Eagle’s set to land new jobs

9:07am Wednesday 6th February 2008

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A RESTAURANT development will create a host of new hospitality jobs in the Ribble Valley.

The former Spread Eagle pub, Clitheroe Road, Barrow, has been taken over by Kevin Berkins, the man behind the highly-acclaimed Fence Gate Inn, Fence.

Mr Berkins took over the business for an undisclosed fee last year and the new restaurant will be known as The Eagle in reference to its former name.

It is due to open in the summer.

And he hopes it will prove a popular addition to the Ribble Valley restaurant scene.

He said: "It will have a brasserie, public bar and a large bar area for food.

"There is also going to be a premium bar that might have a grand piano in it and there will also be an al fresco area at the entrance.

"The first floor will house a function room.

"I'm born and bred in Burnley and when I was younger this pub was so popular and it was a place we would always visit.

"Calling it The Eagle was something I felt we needed to put in."

The restaurant went under the name of Mondo from 2003 and offered a range of different food and cuisine.

However, that business did not prove popular and it closed down in 2007.

It had stood empty for around six months when Mr Berkins took it over.

Mr Berkins said it would create a lot of full and part time jobs when it eventually opened, but it was unclear at this stage what the exact numbers would be.

He added: "We have 105 staff at the Fence Gate, both full and part-time, so it will be a biggish staff recruitment at the new restaurant.

"I think it is the right location and it will enable me to do things I want to do there.

"Barrow and the Ribble Valley is the right place for this type of restaurant, if it wasn't I would not have taken it over."

Mr Berkins has run the Fence Gate Inn for 25 years and before that he was a butcher.

The Fence Gate Inn is listed in the 2008 edition of the Michelin's Eating Out in Pubs guide and was highly commended in the Taste of Lancashire category last year's Lancashire and Blackpool tourism awards.