The Beckford Group preps for new Bath restaurant

The team behind The Beckford Group – a collection of hospitality businesses based in the southwest – are preparing for the opening of The Beckford Canteen in Bath city centre next month. 

The Beckford Canteen will be the second restaurant for the group, which is run by co-founders Dan Brod, Charlie Luxton and Matt Greenless. The team already operate Beckford Bottle Shop, run by Ollie Sutton who will also oversee the Canteen, along with four country Inns located across Wiltshire and Somerset. 

The restaurant occupies a small site in a former Georgian greenhouse on Bartlett Street, conveniently positioned close to the centre of Bath and its Georgian parades. There will be around 40 seats inside and a further 40 in the restaurant's hidden garden. The Beckford Canteen will be open from midday through to evening, serving modern British lunch and dinner, as well as drinks and snacks between 4–6pm.

The kitchen will be led by chef George Barson – whose career began at River Cottage in Devon, where he swiftly progressed to the position of sous chef. He then moved to London where he worked with Nuno Mendes at Viajante, the team at Dinner by Heston Blumenthal and later as development chef for Jamie Oliver's Fifteen in North London. He joined Kitty Fisher's in Mayfair in early 2017 and was promoted to chef director in 2018, working with the team to launch their second outpost – Cora Pearl – in Covent Garden in 2018. He most recently went on to join Wild by Tart in 2021, but has now returned to the west country to open The Beckford Canteen. 

"My cooking has long been inspired by growing up in Devon, and the palette of my grandfather who was a brilliant home cook," says the chef. "A lot of my dishes are underpinned by nostalgia, but also have a contemporary, technique driven style."

The menu at the Canteen will centre around provenance and seasonality. Highlights include rarebit with beer pickled onions; leek, brown butter and hazelnuts; gurnard, shellfiush sauce and sea beet; celeriac, green sauce and crème fraîche; plum trifle; and black treacle and ginger sponge with brown butter ice cream. There will also be a drinks menu including local ales, wines and classic cocktails.

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