Cunning Plan: Northamptonshire Pub Operator Opens Third Site in the County

Pub company Greedy Gordons Pub Group has opened its third site in Northamptonshire.

The Snooty Fox at Lowick, near Thrapston, is a private leasehold which has been opened by owners Richard Gordon and Sonya Harvey, following a £500,000 refurbishment.

The pub was due to open in April 2020 but was delayed due to the challenges of the pandemic. It features a 50-cover restaurant and 60 seat bar area, with the bar featuring a nine pump beer wall offering world beers.

Pubs and retail businesses

Gordon and Harvey also run award-winning pub The Red Lion at Cranford, a Punch lease which opened five years ago, and private leasehold The Pig & Waffle in Grafton Underwood which opened last June. The company also operate two online retail businesses, the soon to be relaunched GG Express, which delivers quality food and drink to homes around Northamptonshire and The Cigar Shop, which sells premium cigars and accessories.

There are plans for further pub openings in Northamptonshire, including Northampton.

Premium food and drink offer

The Snooty Fox’s food offer focuses on dry-aged steaks and fresh seafood, including oysters and native lobsters, with the pub having a lobster tank in its kitchen. Much of the menu is cooked over wood-fire on the pub’s hand-built British Ox grill.

Dishes on offer include cote de boeuf, wagyu steaks, lobster roll, steak burger and The Snooty Fox Steak & Lobster, which includes a 6oz fillet steak and lobster tail. Comforting classics such as shepherd’s pie, Scotch eggs and Croque Madame are also on the menu.

Dynamic duo: The Snooty Fox is the third pub opening from Richard Gordon and Sonya Harvey

Dish to help support Ukranian refugees

The Snooty Fox is also serving a chicken kyiv (kiev), which has been renamed by many pubs and restaurants around the globe as part of a ‘Kievs 4 Kyiv’ initiative in support of Ukraine. For every chicken kyiv sold at the pub £2 is being donated to The British Red Cross Ukraine Crisis Appeal.

Greedys’ garden

Later this year some of The Snooty Fox’s dishes will also feature fresh fruit and vegetables from the group’s own kitchen garden, which is being set-up on land near to the three pubs and will feature its own polytunnel.

Gordon, who has worked in the hospitality industry for 36 years, including in food development for McManus Pub Company and as an area manager for Northamptonshire Inns, said: “We are delighted to finally open The Snooty Fox. It has been a big challenge because as the pub was due to open in April 2020, but hadn’t started trading, we didn’t qualify for any Covid-19 grants and the industry recruitment crisis has also had a huge impact on getting enough team members to open. So it feels a massive achievement to be trading at last.”

Mend it for Money: this beautifully restored cabinet in the pub’s bar, featured on Channel 4’s Mend it for Money

Serving up an experience

He adds: “Following the challenges of the pandemic many people are looking for an experience and to treat themselves when going out and The Snooty Fox aims to offer them that, with a premium menu celebrating the best of British produce, complimented with quality drinks offer including Belgian beers, Champagne by the glass, cocktails and a cigar menu.”

Place to pop in for a pint

As well as the more formal restaurant, The Snooty Fox also has a large bar area with big tables for people to come together over a drink, with board games, darts and a Space Invaders machine on offer too.

The bar features real ales, including from local breweries Phipps of Northampton and Pot Belly Brewery in Kettering, while the beer wall features draught world beers, including Belgian beers from breweries including Vedett, Duvel and De Koninck, all available as third, half and pints. Greedy Gordons Pub Group is a UK ambassador for La Chouffe and Duvel Moortgat.

Striking refurbishment

The Snooty Fox has undergone an extensive refurbishment to create a traditional country pub interior combined with a modern, industrial feel. The pub featuresa handmade elm bar, hand-painted fox murals, opulent chandeliers, gold beer barrel urinals and a fabricator’s cabinet which featured on Channel 4 show ‘Mend it for Money’.

Farm shop opening

The Pig & Waffle at Grafton Underwood, which the company opened last June and which won a gold award in the Booker Dining Venue of the Year in the Northamptonshire Food & Drink Awards 2021/22, is opening a farm shop this Easter.

The shop, located in the pub’s rear garden, will serve a range of local produce as well as drinks and snacks to walkers and cyclists.

Red Lion continues to roar

The group’s first pub The Red Lion at Cranford, which opened five years ago, is introducing a new food and cocktails offer to its covered outside bar/restaurant this summer.

For more information on The Snooty Fox, see www.thesnootyfoxlowick.co.uk