NEW life is coming to a former Michelin-starred restaurant on the Herefordshire border.

Chef Ivan Tisdall-Downes and business partner Imogen Davis, are behind the Native restaurant brand, and have announced their plans to open a restaurant featuring a hyper-sustainable menu at the former Pensons site at the Netherwood Estate.

Pensons, which was based between Bromyard and Tenbury Wells, shut its doors in December 2023 after five years of business. The owners cited increasing financial pressures on the business, including rising interest rates.

Scheduled to open on May 22, 2024, the new Native at Pensons will showcase their “diligent, hyper-sustainable menu style”.

The grounds of the Netherwood Estate are tended by a team of gardeners, farmers, and foragers, that will supply many of the ingredients on the menus.

Guests at the estate will be able to wander through the restaurant’s courtyard and kitchen garden and greenhouses. Native at Pensons has two boutique bedrooms in the main building, as well as access to further accommodation from the Netherwood Estate.

Both business partners, Mr Tisdall-Downes and Ms Davis started their careers over a decade ago, focusing on street food and pop-ups. The pair have concentrated on sustainable cooking and operate a zero-waste kitchen practice within their business.

The restaurant will offer four courses at the price of £65 per person, and seven courses for £105pp and a Sunday lunch at £45pp. The new, 32-cover restaurant with rooms will also feature a 14-seat private dining room on the upper level.

Native was originally launched in 2016 in Covent Garden, the restaurant then moved to the borough market in Southwark and after the Covid lockdown, to Osea Island in Essex.

Native is backed by investment from Hestia Hospitality led by Andrew Fishwick, he said: “I am thrilled that Native is the first project that Hestia is announcing, with more plans in the pipeline. I have known Ivan and Imogen since the very beginning of Native, and have admired and supported them throughout, so to bring them into the Hestia fold is both a personal and professional delight.”