Third site for Cheshire Cat

22-Sep-2011 - Last updated on 12-Mar-2017 at 04:23 GMT

Bird: third site

Cheshire Cat Pubs & Bars, the pub company headed by trade veterans Tim Bird and Mary McLaughlin, has opened its third site and is eyeing another three.

The Cholmondeley Arms near Malpas in Cheshire, a 19th-century building that was previously a school, has received a major refurbishment that includes a new kitchen, toilets and storage area, along with new furniture.

The pub serves 40 different gins.

The site is held on a pri-vate lease with the Cholmondeley estate.

Bird said that the company was looking for “village gems” to restore, and is currently examining three sites. “We’ve always said we would like to build a small pub company of probably up to 10 pubs,” he added.

Bird said the company would like to buy a freehold. It’s two other pubs are leased from Punch Taverns: the Red Lion in Weymouth, Dorset, and the Bull’s Head in Mobberley, Cheshire.

Bird was part of the management team at Eldridge Pope, where he helped developed Que Pasa, and Morrells of Oxford, and was more recently MD of Brunning & Price and the Freehouse Pub Company. McLaughlin was formerly MD of Spanish restaurant chain La Tasca and also worked for pub companies Greenalls and Devenish.