Chris Wright, formerly of The Bell at Sapperton and The Five Alls, Filkins, near Lechlade has taken a managerial role with the Kings Head Hotel in Cirencester.

Chris, 40, has enjoyed a 20 year career in the hospitality industry picking up awards along the way, including one for hospitality marketing in Monaco.

It is not just individual awards the keen wine enthusiast brings with him but team awards, including AA Rosettes and accolades for the Cotswold pubs he has helped so far.

He is now determined to bring this drive and passion for service to his role as Food and Beverage Manager for not only the Kings Head Hotel but MBB Brasserie, situated in Cirencester’s Corn Hall as well as its sister business – Corn Hall Deli.

“It has been a tough time to start a new project and we are looking to reopen shortly and help the town get back to some semblance of normality,” Chris said.

“We have some fab new wines on the way and Ethan (Rodgers, executive chef for Kings Head Hotel and MBB Brasserie) is creating some amazing dishes to really help create a relaxed and comfortable atmosphere in which to enjoy.

"The hotel menu has been revamped to include modern dishes such as a Goan fish curry, a classic rib eye steak with café de Paris butter and a garden beetroot risotto.

“The hotel is now linked to the restaurant brasserie via a small walk through so we are hoping over the various spaces we have to create something different and unique for our customers and guests.

"We also have the terrace in the summer and I really want to make more of this.”

Not one for splodges and foams on plates, Chris likes a more comforting dish: “it has to be honest and well cooked. Fresh seafood or a great steak, I’m a sucker for a Beef suet pudding. Good food, simple and prepared well is the key."

During the recent lockdown, MBB Brasserie was first opened as a social distancing supermarket, making the most of the restaurant and hotels local connections, and then as a takeaway where they made their own pies, pastries and scotch eggs.

Working with regional producers is something that Chris wants to continue now the doors of the businesses are back open.

“We have really relied on those local suppliers during this pandemic, and it’s so important to keep supporting them as life begins to return to normal," Chris added.