A historic Devon pub that has been closed for some time is set for an exciting new lease of life. The Bell Inn in Moretonhampstead, renowned for its mock Tudor façade, is hoping to be turned into a bistro, a community theatre base and apartments.
The vision has been created by local artist and nutritionist Ione Rucquoi who will run the ground floor bistro called Hippo - short for Hippocrates, the Greek scientist and father of medicine. The first floor, also known as the Dancing Room or the Painted Room due to its historic Napoleonic murals painted by French prisoners of war - will become a second space for Med Theatre to use such as for rehearsals, training and events.
The former pub manager's flat on the same floor would also be renovated into an apartment and the third floor - an undeveloped attic space - is also set to be converted into a large apartment. The building has been bought by local business Brechinv on Ione's behalf.
Read next:
A planning application will be submitted to Dartmoor National Park Planning Authority following the completion of a bat survey and if permission is granted, the aim is to have the bisto up and running by next spring while the other floors continue to be refurbished.
Ione, who has a degree in nutritional science, will use her nutritional knowledge to create a menu of healthy meals that are educational but 'not preachy' with food sourced as fresh and local as possible.
She said: "I'm calling it a bistro as it will be a cross between a cafe and a restaurant. I am interested in the idea of making a menu of foods that are therapeutic for chronic illnesses which people have so much more these days and showing how a healthy diet can impact your health.
"People immediately associate healthy food with a vegetarian or vegan diet, but I am neither. I believe in eating meat as long as it is good quality. The bistro menu will offer healthy, good-quality food using as many locally sourced ingredients as possible. In an ideal world, we would love it to all be organic but that would be unreasonable due to the costs.
"Instead we will be using the Dirty Dozen and Clean 15 list as a guide because it tells you the fruits and vegetables that contain the most and least pesticides. It's going to be a challenge but at the same time, I feel good about the fact we will be giving people quality produce and that's really important as well as customer care."
What is also important to Ione is that the premises will continue to be used by the community.
She admitted: "It would have been dreadful if the pub had been bought and turned into flats. Rural communities like this need community spaces rather than just being taken over with residential properties. Small rural towns are being battered at the moment, I feel.
"It will be nice to keep the vibrancy going in Moretonhampstead. The reaction to the plans from locals has been really positive so far.
"We won't be making a huge amount of changes and the premises will still be serving food and drink, including alcohol such as good quality local wines. We are looking to change the frontage a little bit as we don't want it to look like a pub.
"We will be keeping the mock Tudor look but will change the colour from black to something a bit softer. I feel very excited about it.
"It has been a lengthy process but it means we have plenty of time to get everything right. Initially, we will probably open in the evenings five days a week and will then see how it goes once we have got a good team established."
Ione's long-term vision is to also offer food-based talks, film nights, pop-up set menus and regularly changing art exhibitions.
