Stein buys pub...but Worrall Thompson closes his

Celebrity chef Rick Stein has bought a pub in Cornwall — but another high profile chef, Antony Worrall-Thompson, has closed his Berkshire pub.

Celebrity chef Rick Stein has bought a pub in Cornwall — but another high profile chef, Antony Worrall Thompson, has closed his Berkshire pub.

Stein has acquired the Cornish Arms in St Merryn and plans to run the pub as a local rather than as a gastro pub.

"We are looking at a pub with a view to running it more as a local rather than as a local gastropub," Stein told the Mail.

"Pubs have had such a bad time of late with booze in supermarkets and the smoking ban.

"It would be nice to run a successful pub and help preserve the local because I love locals myself."

Meanwhile, Antony Worrall Thompson has decided to shut one of his pubs — the Greyhound in Berkshire.

"We are deeply saddened to have to take this action and our first thoughts are with the staff, all of whom have worked so hard to make the Greyhound an enjoyable place to meet, drink and eat," he said.

"High rents combined with a decline in footfall due to the current difficult economic climate have made it necessary to take strategic action now to consolidate our business. This closure is regrettably an inevitable part of this process."

It is not known who the landlord of the pub is.