AA rewards village pub near Peterborough with two coveted rosettes
From sticky carpets to two AA Rosettes in four years – not bad for a village pub, joked Emma King, who with husband Frazer runs the Red Lion in the village of West Deeping, near Peterborough.
The award of the coveted rosettes – not one but two – puts the Red Lion in good company with some well-known sought out foodie places in the Peterborough and Stamford area.
It is also the culmination of four years hard work for Emma, who runs front of house, and Frazer, the chef, who fulfilled a dream by taking on their own business in May 2021.
“It is great news for us,” said Emma. “When you look at some of the places that have two rosettes – and we are now ranked alongside them – it is not bad at all. And we now fill what was a massive void this side of Stamford.
"It is also important as I feel people go out to eat less often now – and when they do they look for somewhere special, so we will be more appealing . We are also lucky that we are really well supported by our locals and have a good reputation for our food already.
"We try to be really seasonal and or menus change every couple of weeks to reflect what produce is available and we like to support local suppliers and growers, as well as the small local brewers."
Emma said the couple applied to AA earlier in the year and underwent a rigorous vetting process – before one of the AA inspectors paid an unannounced visit and obviously liked what they saw – and ate.
"Frazer is a career chef and he has worked in kitchens that have been awarded these accolades but this time the award is his and is a reward for his hard work,” she added.
"He had an idea what was needed in terms of menu selection, food quality, presentation, pricing and service to be able to win these awards. And we had one of our favourite dishes on the menu when the inspector visited – roast halibut with sea buckthorn.
“It was also nice that we found out we had been successful just after we celebrated four years here – and it has been four very busy years not just keeping the customers happy but renovating the place; from replacing the sticky carpets with wooden floors, opening up an old fireplace, putting in log burners, and decorating – basically bringing back some of the old features that had been lost and that add to the character of the pub.
"But this is our home, we are local people who came back to this area to run our own business, a pub and restaurant, and we feel it has all been worth it.”