A new restaurant has opened in Selby this month – that aims to be a ‘top venue’ for the town.
The Walnut Tree, located inside the recently renovated hotel George Inn Selby, opened its doors at the beginning of April to offer classic and comforting gastro pub dishes.
The George Inn, long known as the Londesborough Hotel until a name change in 2017, announced via social media that their kitchen will be closed ‘for the foreseeable future’. Now, the hotel has a brand new restaurant for patrons and visitors to enjoy.
YorkMix spoke to manager Nik Haywood to find out more.
The new owners who bought the venue in November were ‘very excited’ to get food back on at the venue.
Nik Haywood, who has been at the George Inn for about nine weeks now, manages the whole site, and he brought on Justyna and Wojtek Wiśniewska who previously ran Bistro 81 in Selby to manage the restaurant.
“We run it in collaboration with each other,” explained Nik. “It’s been really exciting to be concentrating on bringing gastro pub style food to Selby.
“It’s locally sourced, it’s homemade. We opened on Wednesday 1 April and it’s going really well so far. It’s just trying to get our name out there now and building our reputation up.”
The feedback so far has been “fantastic,” Nik said. “There’s not a lot of gastro-style pubs in the town centre, so we’re trying to tap into that market.”
Visitors to The Walnut Tree at the George Inn can expect comfort food like pies, burgers, fish and chips, and Sunday roasts.
The restaurant serves food every day from 12pm to 9pm.
“We’ve also got a big outside courtyard at the back, which people can relax in on the sunnier days!”
The menu is “perfect” for al fresco dining as well, as it offers sandwiches and salads too.
“It’s really going back to the roots of basic but really well-prepared, and well-sourced pub-style food,” Nik explained. “The quality is really high.”
Though it’s still “early days”, the venue plans to host events in the future.
“We’re still working out the needs of the customer base,” said Nik.
Alongside live music nights, to come could be barbecues and summer events to look forward to.
One of the ambitions for The Walnut Tree is for it to become a hub for the community in Selby. “We’ve not done food here since November, so it’s really something that we’re trying to get going again and make it a top venue in the town centre.
“There’s not a lot in walking distance for people who live in Selby to enjoy pub-style food.”
The Walnut Tree at the George Inn has also been fully refurbished, with a new function room that can fit around 100 people.
Find out more about The Walnut Tree at their Facebook page here.
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