Beckford Group has opened its first restaurant with rooms in the market town of Corsham in the UK.
Downstairs, the property features a bar area with counter seating and a British brasserie menu. The main brasserie seats around 80 covers in total, including a small courtyard to the rear for outdoor dining and a small number of tables at the front.
There is also a Beckford Bottle Shop, selling some of the team’s favourite wines from its original shop in Bath. Around 200 bottles will be available, while the wine-led menu in the brasserie features around 20 wines by the glass, with guests also able to choose a bottle from the shelves. The wine shop has a small number of tables and chairs for guests who wish to stop for a glass and a bite to eat.
In the kitchen, Harris will develop the menu at Corsham House by moving away from the solely small-plate concept in Bath and focusing on a more traditional format with a British brasserie focus. The menu will also link to the bottle shop and the restaurant’s extensive wine list, featuring a ‘wine of the week’ from an extensive 200-bin global selection, with around 40 wines available by the glass.
Sample dishes, drawing on the West Country’s abundant larder, might include Westcombe Cheddar curds with pig’s head fritter and gooseberry ketchup; crumpet with anchovy butter; chicken liver parfait with fermented potato bread; Devonshire white crab salad with an ‘English muffin’; Chioggia beetroot with ewe’s curd and Cherry Belle radish; cured mullet with tomato, sauce vierge and smoked oil; cod’s roe with pickled cucumber and a bread-waste cracker; and courgette with broad beans, feta and marigold.
Vegetable dishes include British tomato salad with elderflower vinaigrette and green beans with BBQ embers dressing, shallots and mint, alongside Corsham Chips with chicken salt. Desserts include elderflower tart, dark chocolate mousse, Eton mess, burnt butter ice cream, and strawberry sorbet with basil and pepper syrup.
In the afternoons, guests can pop in for a drink and a menu of snacks, including Cheddar curds with Marmite mayo, cod’s roe with pickled cucumber, or a plate of charcuterie, cornichons, bread and butter. Alternatively, there’s coffee or a digestif, served with fudge or a slice of spiced apple cake with Dorstone.
Arranged over the first and second floors, the rooms are decorated in a palette of soothing colours, with an array of patterned and traditional floral fabrics used throughout the soft furnishings. The bedrooms come in a variety of shapes and sizes, as the hotel has been created from a Georgian townhouse that served as a bank for the last 100 years. No two rooms are the same, with each having its own character, and many benefitting from views down onto the bustling high street below.
