Diners rack up £150 bill before fleeing Suffolk gastropub

Brendan Padfield, owner of the Unruly Pig, Bromeswell, which is currently a finalist for Best Food Pub in this year’s Great British Pub Awards, told The Ipswich Star ​the culprits simply hopped the fence of the pub’s beer garden and ran away after a lavish meal last Friday.

Young couple​

He said: “They were a relatively young couple… they wanted to eat outside – and they ate rather eagerly. Uniquely, they stayed outside as others came inside when it became a bit parky.

“Their intention was clear. To leave normally they would have needed to pass the entrance, but they hopped over the fence and ran off with a bottle of unfinished wine. It seems improbable that they forgot to pay.”

The couple dined on T-bone and rump steaks, a cold meat platter and a chilled soup and drank two bottles of white wine, four liquors, three cognacs and a chocolate dessert before making their escape.

The pub is understood to have passed CCTV footage to police who are investigating the incident.  

Fire​

The Unruly Pig sits on the site of the former British Larder, which was owned by chefs Ross Pike – now chef director for Oakman Inns – and his wife, chef Madalene Bonvini-Hamel.

Padfield took over the site in 2015 when Pike and Bonvini-Hamel closed up to focus on other aspects of their business.

However, the pub was devastated in an early morning blaze​ when a fire ripped through the site and its outbuildings in June 2015. Roughly 20% to 30% of the pub was destroyed.  

Padfield spoke of the ordeal​ to The Morning Advertiser ​at the time, expressing much gratitude to the local community for the support it gave him in the wake of the fire.

The pub reopened in November 2015 and has since garnered rave reviews for its food offer.

Dishes on offer at the Unruly Pig include fillet of mackerel with risotto of beetroot, apple and watercress; stuffed saddle of rabbit with parmesan gnocchi, peas and girolles; and blood orange granita with melon sorbet.