Award-winning chef to open new restaurant at former Michelin-starred venue on Shropshire border

The former Pensons restaurant, situated on the Netherwood Estate close to Tenbury Wells, is set to be taken over by Open Restaurant Group (ORG) - a hospitality company owned by chef Andrew Sheridan and his business partners Sam and Emma Morgan.

The former Pensons closed in November 2023 after citing "persistent inflation and interest rate pressures", before fine-dining venue Native opened its doors in the same premises in April 2024.

Native also closed down last month, only weeks after receiving its own first Michelin star, after a problem with a broken extraction system was described as the "straw that broke the camel's back" by the business.

Now, new owners Open Restaurant Group say they are "delighted" to have taken over the restaurant, which is set to be called "Sow" when it re-opens to the public in May.

The group now owns eight restaurants, including co-owner Andrew Sheridan's flagship 3AA Rosette restaurant "8 by Andrew Sheridan", in Liverpool. 

“We are absolutely delighted to be taking over Pensons," said Mr Sheridan. 

"This place is unreal, and we can’t wait to get started. We will be focusing on the farm-to-fork dining and the abundant ingredients available in the restaurant’s kitchen garden.”

In the meantime the company says the restaurant’s new head chef Curtis Winstone, formerly of Da Terra in London and Lucknam Park near Bath, will be working on menu development with a "strong emphasis on farm-to-fork dining". 

The team expects to open Sow in mid-May. 

A spokesperson for the Netherwood Estate said: “We are really looking forward to welcoming ORG to the Netherwood Estate and we wish them all the best with the reopening of the restaurant and rooms.”

News of the re-opening comes just three weeks after the closure of Native, which announced it would shut down "for the foreseeable future" after owners Ivan Tisdall-Downes and business partner Imogen Davis returned from receiving the restaurant's first Michelin Star to discover an issue with an extraction system which led to the closure of the business.

"What we hoped was a quick fix turns out to be a deeper problem with our systems and so sadly, cannot be an immediate fix," said a spokesperson last month.

"The large cost to repair this equipment is unfortunately the straw that broke the camel's back and has had a huge detrimental effect on a small business with such tight margins, and unfortunately has put us in a position whereby the directors at Hestia Ltd have taken the decision to close the restaurant for the foreseeable future."