The Oak Inn, Christchurch, hire new head chef and launch new menu

The owners of the Oak Inn, Burton, Tracy and Rob Ford, said that the pub has remained traditional, rather than trying something different, but that the new chef, Alex, has bought some new dishes to the menu, since he arrived on January 25.

“Alex is a classically trained a la carte chef,” Tracy said.

“He’s been a freelance chef for the last couple of years now, in and around Bournemouth. He used to be in London. Now he's decided to take more of a permanent role with us, much to our delight.

“He’d heard from a friend that we were looking for a head chef, so he then got in touch with us and we invited him in for interview and then the rest is history.”

“We pride ourselves on freshly sourced ingredients, and it’s really good quality traditional pub food,” she said.

The pair are into their sixth year of owning the pub, since taking over in 2017.

“Everybody’s welcome,” Tracy said.

“We love having new customers from different areas. We do get a few from different villages already but we’d love to have more.

“They always experience a very friendly welcome here. It’s well known as a very friendly pub, a very traditional pub.”