PART of Worcester’s Tudor heritage has been given a new lease of life under the stewardship of a well-known figure the local food and drink industry.

The 16th century Grade II* listed Old Pheasant in New Street, has been taken over and given a new look by Richard Everton, who also runs the nearby Bottles bar, and his partner Sue Patey.

The pair had been looking for an opportunity to offer a bigger range of food and cater for larger groups when the tenant at The Pheasant (as it was then called) said he was thinking of moving on.

Richard and Sue grabbed the chance to run the pub and took it over in May this year. They closed it for a month while they redecorated and did a refurbishment to brighten it up – creating more eating areas.

Sue explained that they were limited as to how much they could refurbish the building due to its listed status but redecorated making the rooms a lot brighter.

“Richard has Bottles next door and it is a wine bar. We could not serve draft ales and could not do proper food because it has a tiny kitchen. We were very often being asked to do functions but we did not have the space.

“Then the tenant of The Pheasant mentioned he wanted to move on and we thought it was quite a good opportunity. It had been a sports bar with a pool table and table football. There were two big screens to watch sports in the upstairs bar,” said Sue.

The historic pub is a collection of beamed rooms with a large open bar area downstairs, a function room/skittle alley, and smaller rooms upstairs plus a roof terrace and beer garden.

The pool table and table football have now gone and a large screen has been installed in the function room where the pub will be showing major sporting events and all the premiership rugby fixtures starting in September.

The aim is to offer people the chance to see sport in a different area to the main part of the pub.

Sue added that they are now in a position to cater for both small and large groups of customers who want to eat and are focusing on freshly cooked local produce, which in turn aims to help local food producers.

She pointed out that most of the 20 full and part-time staff are new and that includes the two chefs – Andy Robbins who previously worked in the kitchen at the Marwood on The Tything, Worcester, and Jamie Shepherd who has worked at Primo, on Sidbury, and Bolero in Foregate Street.

“We aim to offer really good quality food which is all cooked to order,” said Sue.

The Old Pheasant is also offering an early bird menu for customers who order before 7pm - they can have two courses for £13.99 or three courses for £15.99 - and it is about to launch a children’s menu. There are also various deals on hiring rooms for larger parties and the pub is also dog friendly.