Member Article

Popular pub launches afternoon tea

A Teesside, family-run pub has launched its own version of an afternoon tea due to demand from customers.

The Tuns at Sadberge, celebrating its first successful year in business, is bucking the national decline in the pub sector thanks to its growing reputation for good food, real ales and live music.

As well as serving teas, coffees, lunches, dinner and Sunday lunch, The Tuns has just launched its own version of afternoon tea after customers asked if cakes could be made available throughout the day.

The afternoon tea is now served between 2pm and 5pm, Tuesday to Saturday, and features homemade scones and miniature treats, cakes and pastries and traditional sandwiches. As well as local teas and coffees, there is also a Champagne option. Prices start from £13.95

Ross Serino, from Yarm, opened The Tuns at Sadberge- formerly the Three Tuns- last year, investing over a quarter of a million pounds in the venture with his mother, Barbara Serino, and his partner, Rebecca Osbaldeston.

Since re-opening, The Tuns has proved to be a popular pub and restaurant, quickly gaining a reputation for its high-quality, home-cooked food and informal bar offering local ales and fine wines as well as teas and coffees.

The Tuns initially created five new jobs for people living in the village and this has doubled in the last year, thanks to the pub’s popularity.

Housed in a grade II-listed building, The Tuns had previously been closed for several months with local people voicing concerns that it might not re-open. Ross and his family spent 2013 completing a major renovation at the pub, carefully restoring it to its former glory, as it is thought to date back to the 15thth century.

Ross, whose family have run the popular Santoro’s in Yarm since the 1970s, has many years’ experience working in catering and hospitality having worked with his father in Yarm from a young age.

Ross said: “The last year has been a real whirlwind for everyone involved but we’re really pleased with the response we have had from our customers- they’re provide us with great feedback, hence we decided to launch an afternoon tea option.

“It’s quite unusual for a pub but we do get many ladies or business people requesting coffee and cake and, because we’re so conveniently located just off the A66, we do get passing trade as well so afternoon tea seemed like a good idea.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Anna Addison Associates .