Engineer licensees open new pub

A petition to save the Engineer in Primrose Hill from becoming an M&B managed house attracted over 3,000 signatures, including those of local celebrity regulars Harry Enfield and John Snow.

However, M&B will be taking over management from next month.

Abigail Osborne and Tamsin Olivier, who took over the Engineer in 1994, will start at new pub the Hampshire Hog (previously the Ruby Grand) in Ravenscourt Park, near Hampstead, north London, on 15 October.

They have taken on a 23-year lease from Scottish & Newcastle Pub Company.

Osborne said: “It is very sad, heartbreaking really. We are going to try and be slightly different from the Engineer (at the Hampshire Hog) as the building lends itself to that. We want to try and provide as many different reasons as possible to come into the building.

“People can pop in to either have a restaurant meal, sit at the bar and have some soup and a pint, or go into the deli where we will offer really economical fresh food.

“We are going to open an hour earlier because the schools around here start shortly after eight, so we will look to get the mothers in.”

Pub manager Ed Francis will be joining the licensees at their new pub.
Olivier and Osborne, invested £70,000 to refurbish the Engineer and transform it into a popular London gastropub.

M&B served notice with intent to take occupation and possession at the end of the lease. The Engineer is now taking in excess of £30,000 a week, up from £2,000 a week when the licensees took over.

M&B said they would not be transferring the pub into a branded operation.