Bath buns and Bath chaps have for centuries been the city’s best-known culinary items – but now a Bath pub hopes to add a new dish to the repertoire.
The Assembly Inn has teamed up with local pie makers Lovett Pies to create the Bath Pie – and the response, they say, has been incredible.
The inspiration for the pie – which has three main ingredients of Bath brewery Abbey Ales’ Bellringer Ale, local beef and Bath Blue cheese – came from Assembly Inn licensee Caroline Walcot and pub chef Alex Coxall. They wanted to serve up a local dish on the Abbey Ales-owned pub's menu – but drew a blank.
Caroline said: "With so much interest in local food these days, I thought I'd better create my own regional dish. After all, we are part of Bath's own brewery."
The idea was put to Lovett Pie chefs Christopher Parry and Phil Roseblade who developed the Bath Pie.
Phil said the key was to use a classic combination of local ingredients – all sourced from no further than 10 miles from Bath – and which work together perfectly.
"We hope other pubs will take it up, as well as restaurants, schools, canteens and hotels," said Chris, ambitiously adding: "in years to come we could reach the dizzy heights of Lancashire hotpot, Devon cream teas, and Cornish Pasties.”
The dish went on the Assembly Inn’s menu at the start of December and already accounts for a large percentage of food sales.
"The response to a Bath pie has been incredible," said Caroline. "Tradition has to start sometime, so why not now?"
Meanwhile Abbey Ales, Bath's only brewer, has acquired another city centre pub. The Trinity, on James Street, is the brewery’s fourth venue in the city and joins the National Heritage Inventory-listed Star Inn, Bath’s premier sports bar, the Assembly Inn and Bath's smallest pub, the Coeur De Lion.
The Trinity will now be tastefully restored to its former glory and will offer the best of the award-winning brewer’s own range of cask beers, including its flagship brand, Bellringer.
Abbey Ales managing director Alan Morgan said: “We are delighted to have acquired the Trinity. We have a love and enthusiasm for great beer and quality pub food. We believe city centre pubs are the way forward for us and we are considering more outlets in the city.
The pub is likely to be closed for at least two months while refurbishment work to take place. It will be managed by Tycjan Zaleski, currently the manager of La Tasca in Broad Street and has extensive experience in the food industry.
Mr Zaleski has known the pub for many years and also wants to revive its sports teams and its former reputation as a rugby pub.
"I have always loved the Trinity and we are going to do things to make it special and different from all the other pubs in the near vicinity. There's a lot of money being put into this part of town. It is a great local pub and it has a nice bunch of regular customers."
Founded in 1997, Abbey Ales is the first and only brewery in the historic City of Bath for over fifty years, and is the initiative of experienced brewery sales and marketing manager Alan Morgan.
A Camra prize winning beer Bellringer is the only cask beer continuously produced at the Abbey Brewery, a golden 4.2% abv best bitter. Successfully launched at the Bath CAMRA beer festival in October 1997 Bellringer is now the top selling cask bitter in the World Heritage City of Bath and is as popular with the many visitors to the Georgian City as it is with Bathonians.
