These days, the Newman Arms is the home of Matt Chatfield’s Cornish Project. Chatfield, a Cornish native, supplies produce from Cornwall to a wide range of London chefs and operates a string of Cornish pop-up kitchens in other pubs across the city. But it didn’t come easy.
Small beginnings
Chatfield came from a farming background, but was encouraged to leave and go on to “bigger and better” things in his youth, so he left Cornwall to take up a career in publishing.
But after the death of his grandmother, who he had a close relationship with, he decided to go home and set up a food business delivering produce to self-catering holiday makers.
But whilst the business was mildly successful, Chatfield says the idea was never scalable.
And after following the suggestion of a friend and putting on a monthly Cornish produce market at Putney pub the Telegraph, Chatfield was asked by an enthusiastic operator to start supplying a variety of new London pubs including ETM Group site the Ealing Park Tavern.
Chatfield initially supplied only pork and beef, but quickly began working with a fish company back in Cornwall, driving up to London once a week and garnering rave reviews from chefs and licensees for the quality of his produce.
“The reason Cornwall is great is because we have a longer growing season than anyone else,” he says. “We have better weather for growing so we get better grass and we can feed our animals a lot better.
“Fish-wise we have a huge coast with clean waters and a thriving boat industry. But there was no distribution into London happening. So we had to find our own ways of doing it.
“The chef at Ealing Park Tavern – and this is where it all began I suppose – had spent time in Cornwall and had a massive passion for Cornish produce,” he says. “She basically said this was the best produce she had ever tasted.”
Chatfield soon began supplying a range of high end restaurants across South London and eventually began running pop-ups under the name of the Cornish Grill at pubs including the Adam & Eve, Hackney, and the Manor Arms, Clapham, all the while creating a network of famers, fishermen and tradesmen back in Cornwall.
“I think we may have been one of the first to do a pub takeover without even realising it,” he says.
“Eventually we were able to get complete control of chilled distribution – we could pick up anything all over Cornwall and get it to London. I just wanted to get amazing produce to the city and drive jobs back home, giving it to people who’ve just got the right ability to put that money back into society.
“The whole ethos behind the company is this: we want to drive jobs in Cornwall by making our suppliers get better, and the way we do that is by making chefs work really closely with them.
“And to do that,” he says, “you need to work with really kind-hearted, forward thinking chefs.”
Moving into the pub trade
Meanwhile, the previous owners of the Newman Arms – renowned pie makers Tracey and Amber Bird –left the pub to start a dedicated pie business in Stoke Newington. They sold the site to West End property owners Shaftesbury PLC, who went on the lookout for new operators.
Chatfield was alerted to the Newman Arms’ presence on the market and pitched his business plan to Shaftesbury PLC at the Adam & Eve over a barbecue showcasing his produce.
“It was during a period where I was probably the most tired I’ve ever been in my life. I’d decided at about eight in the morning the day of the pitch to text all the chefs I deal with and ask them to send me an email with your thoughts on me and what I do.
“I did all my rounds, the people from Shaftesbury showed up and I showed them the emails, which I hadn’t even had time to read. So we read them together and it was really emotional. People were so kind and complimentary and it was quite amazing. People say I always land on my feet but it was really, really special.
“Then my chef did a blinder on the cooking. There was a point where I told them everything we do is about driving jobs in Cornwall and their eyes lit up. You could see it clicking.”
Open for business
Once they had the keys to the site, Chatfield and his team made sure not to change too much. The pub has a loyal local following, he says, and he didn’t want to turn the pub – which he sees essentially as a proper London boozer – into anything too out there.
“It was obvious that you didn’t need to change too much,” he says. “We changed the front to make it a bit more in keeping with our style and moved a few things around but it’s such a unique pub – I don’t think there are any other places like it.
“The locals love it – we really feel like we’re only custodians. It’s ours to keep how it is and add to its history.”
The kitchen may be small, but the quality of the food has already wowed critics including the Evening Standard's Fay Maschler.
Most importantly, the art of transporting produce from Cornwall to the pub everyday has been streamlined.
“We’ve been doing it for about five years now,” says Chatfield. “So it’s a pretty failsafe operation. Everything gets picked up from Cornwall at about five in the evening and dropped off here at about one in the morning by the delivery guys, who have keys to the site.
“There’ve been so many brave - and probably foolhardy - decisions since we started doing this but we’ve been lucky enough to meet the right people.
“Obviously there are distribution costs but the suppliers get the most phenomenal fish – it’s just stunning. And we’ll be serving the biggest portion in Fitzrovia. The money is being spent on cooking and quality.”
The pub’s upstairs dining area seats roughly 30 covers and currently only serves dinner in the evenings, with lunch services set to start at the end of August.
“My rule is ‘don’t shout about it’ – let people come,” He says. “Expectations will be naturally low because you come in and think it’s just a boozer. But then that plate of food comes out.”
Chatfield also plans to start offering bespoke meals to customers.
“This is something I’ve tried at other places,” he says. “If you give us a week’s warning we will come up with whatever menu you want.
“For instance, if you find out that your client’s favourite fish is, say, John Dory, I will source the absolute best John Dory and it will be the best they’ve ever had.
“On a Friday night we get 400 people in this pub. So we’re just going to tell them that we can do it – that’s the best way to advertise.”
The future
For now, Chatfield's focus is on the Newman Arms, but Chatfield doesn’t rule out the potential for a second site.
“The beauty of this site is that we can do absolutely anything we want,” he says. “This may sound arrogant but if I wanted to do the best steak restaurant or best fish restaurant in London, the distribution network is in place and so are my suppliers.
“We just want to push through the message that everything we do is about providing jobs in Cornwall and supplying London with a great product. I think we’ll be able to do what we want, as long as it’s about that.”
What’s cooking?
- Mackerel, fermented gherkin and fresh almonds (£6)
- Red mullet, tomatillo, broad beans and soya vinaigrette (£8)
- Turbot with baby fennel, smoked new potatoes and olive sauce (£18)
- Roasted lamb rump with salt baked turnips, seaweed sauce, nasturtium and smoked spelt (£19)