Suffolk pub let to award-winning restaurateur

The Queens Head in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk has been let to local award-winning restaurateur, Ben Hutton, who currently operates Ben’s Restaurant, just four doors down from The Queens Head.

Hutton’s food offering will focus on ‘Food to Fork’, ensuring that the meat is sourced locally from free range Suffolk livestock. Hutton himself breeds a selection of rare pigs and Jacob sheep as well as keeping chicken and ducks.

His accolades include the Suffolk Food and Drink Award in 2016 for Field to Fork, a finalist for the Countryside Alliance Awards in the Local Food category as well as being listed as a Local Gem in The Good Food Guide in 2016, ’17 and ’18.

Hutton now intends to undertake a complete refurbishment of The Queens Head, where the main bar and restaurant will open first, while the letting accommodation on the first floor undergoes renovation.

The transaction was brokered on behalf of the landlord, Wellington Pub Company, by Gareth Hatton of leisure property specialists Fleurets. He said: “Bury St Edmunds has seen some notable changes over the past 10 to15 years, and as a result the pub and restaurant scene has exploded to provide some of the best offerings in East Anglia.

“Ben already has a notable reputation in the town as being one of the finest independent operators, with his flagship restaurant receiving various coveted awards within the first year of opening. I am very excited to see where Ben will take The Queens Head and know it will be a treat for the local and visiting tourists alike.”