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New owners take over Michelin-starred restaurant

Gavin Kermack
BBC News, West Midlands
Open Restaurant Group A man with short dark hair, wearing a light brown long-sleeved shirt with the sleeves rolled up and a dark brown apron, is standing in a kitchen. He is holding a saucepan and appears to be stirring something in it.Open Restaurant Group
Chef Andrew Sheridan is co-owner of Open Restaurant Group, which is taking over Pensons

A new "farm-to-fork" restaurant is to open on the site of a former Michelin Star-winning establishment in Worcestershire.

Sow, run by the independent hospitality group Open Restaurant Group (ORG), will open in the old Pensons restaurant near Tenbury Wells.

Pensons closed in December 2022, citing financial difficulties.

Sow is expected to open in May.

ORG is owned by award-winning chef Andrew Sheridan, along with his business partners Sam and Emma Morgan.

It runs seven other restaurants around the country, including Black & Green and Cofton on the Green, both in Barnt Green, Worcestershire, and The Bracebridge in Sutton Coldfield.

"We are absolutely delighted to be taking over Pensons," said Mr Sheridan. "We will be focusing on the farm-to-fork dining and the abundant ingredients available in the restaurant's kitchen garden."

Pensons The inside of a fancy-looking restaurant, which looks to be in a converted barn. It has wooden floors, wooden tables and chairs and floor-to-ceiling windows. There are wooden beams on the sloped ceiling and wicker lampshades hang from the roof. A chef is working in a kitchen at the far end of the restaurant.Pensons
Pensons won a prestigious Michelin Star and a Green Star in the nearly five years it was open

Pensons, based on the 1,200-acre Netherwood Estate, opened in January 2019 and was awarded a Michelin Star later that year.

In 2022, it also won a Michelin Green Star for sustainability but shut its doors at the end of the following year.

Native, a zero-waste restaurant, moved into the building in April 2024 but closed suddenly last month.

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