Macready’s

SHERBORNE TIMES, JULY 2024

Words, Claire Bowman

Photography, Katharine Davies

While the waiting team glides methodically from table to table, folding white linen napkins and laying cutlery, staff behind the Palm Bar check stock levels and polish glassware. With its marble-topped tables, coral banquette seating and flamboyant Adam Ellis Studio wallpaper, it makes a light and airy contrast to the adjoining restaurant space, which has the cosy, intimate feel of a member’s club.

Overseeing operations in the kitchen is Head Chef George Marsh, who on the morning of my visit has been busy checking in with local suppliers. Hailed by food critics as one of the UK’s most talented seafood chefs (Fans of the former Riverside restaurant in West Bay will have fond memories of his famous brill with crispy spinach and sorrel sauce), George’s Portland crab linguine and pan-fried hake have been flying off the menu since the restaurant opened in May, along with the spicy steamed mussels and Bagnell Farm burger. With sous-chef Jose Maria Lain Canosa from Bridport’s Electric Pub Company by his side, they make quite the team. 

‘Our food is not about the micro herbs, it’s about honest cooking and proper big flavours – Modern British with a Mediterranean influence,’ says George, a former head chef at The Castle in Taunton, Fox Inn in Corscombe, Bull Hotel, Cobb Arms in Lyme Regis and the aforementioned Electric Pub Company. ‘We are great believers in seasonal, locally sourced ingredients. The Portland crab we use, for example, is in all the top London restaurants; you’re not going to get any better. Our fish is from Davy’s Locker in Bridport; our scallops are hand-dived by Ali the scallop diver in Lyme Bay; our cheese is from Longman’s; our meat is from Bagnell Farm. Then we have ice cream from Ecco Gelato, wines from Vineyards and The Drinksmith and coffee from a number of nearby roasteries.’

The sweet-toothed amongst us will be pleased to hear that Sherborne’s very own Terry Hawrylak (aka Terry the Baker) is at the helm of cakes and puddings. Previously chief baker and celebration cake maker at The Hub café, where his mince pies and birthday cakes were the stuff of legend, his caramel slices, apricot flapjacks and Viennese fingers, along with a pretty show-stopping peanut butter parfait, are all looking to go the same way. ‘I started off as an apprentice at Fudge’s in Leigh and have never wanted to do anything different,’ says Terry, presenting a batch of the moistest- looking brownies I’ve ever seen, fresh from the oven. ‘When baking is in your blood, it never leaves you.’

While many will recognise restaurant manager William Scott-Masson from his numerous TV acting roles, his distinguished career in hospitality has included the Beckford and Chickpea groups and launching Ivy restaurants across the country. ‘It is not just the quality of the food and drink that makes Macready’s special but the entire guest experience,’ says William, ’All our staff are empathic, compassionate, open, generous, warm, lovely people,’ he says, adding that the majority, including Imo who is currently on her gap year, are also drawn from local schools. ‘Whether people are coming for a four-course meal in the restaurant, an early evening pizza and a glass of wine on the terrace or a morning cup of coffee, we want our guests to have the very best experience.’

On the subject of coffee (demand has been huge which has taken the team a little by surprise, considering there’s already a plethora of ‘great places to drink coffee in town.’), William explains, ‘We don’t have a café, but, of course, we are delighted to serve coffee. We have been busy hiring baristas so that people can enjoy a coffee in the sunshine in the courtyard or on the terrace, where we now have a hatch and till. On less sunny days they can have a coffee in the Pavilion events space.’

Being open to new things and embracing a challenge seems to be very much part of what makes Macready’s an exciting place to work. ‘We all have been encouraging each other to do the best we can and what is so great is that everybody is so keen to learn,’ says ebullient Assistant Manager Jess, who joined the team in April having previously worked in hospitality while travelling in Australia. ‘It’s been lovely that since we opened there’s been a constant buzz around the space and we’ve been very busy most weekends and lunchtimes. People have been very supportive.’

None of this would have been possible, of course, without the generosity of the late Michael Cannon and his wife Sally. A successful local entrepreneur and a visionary with a passion for the arts, Michael was the driving force behind the renovation of Sherborne House. He sadly died in June last year but it was his great wish that, as well as having ‘luxurious’ loos (the designers have certainly fulfilled the brief and then some), the restaurant would be named after the actor William Macready, who leased the house from 1850-60 and frequently invited his great friends Charles Dickens and William Makepeace Thackeray to stay.

‘It is tragic that Michael never got to see Macready’s and this beautiful old, crumbling building completed,’ says William. ‘It was his vision to create a space for the community which he insisted on being free. As a restaurant, we exist in part to cover the overheads of the house and keep it alive but it’s important that we try to keep the prices sensible. We are making the margins we need to make but we’re not putting anything on top of that because, again, it’s about the community. George has been very careful with his menu: one, to use local suppliers; secondly, to have a really broad range so that there’s something for everyone.’

As midday approaches and head bartender Maverick mixes the first pre-prandial drink of the day, I leave Macready’s and head out to the entrance, past a beautiful bronze sculpture of a dog by Elisabeth Frink which is currently on loan from Arts in Hospital, and through to the gift shop, which celebrates local makers and creators. From Wincanton honey and own-brand organic fudge to Coffee Notes stationery, Richard Bramble pottery and Gather wool blankets, it is clear that a lot of thought has gone into the curation.

It’s the same meticulousness, in fact, that runs through the entire restoration project, from the famous Georgian façade and Baroque Thornhill Mural to the blue horse artwork which diners can now spy on the kitchen wall behind the pass. Painted by former pupils, it’s a gentle reminder of when Sherborne House was once a girls’ grammar school – and a charming backdrop for George and the team as they plate up that famous Portland crab linguine.

sherbornetimes.co.uk

Macready’s is open Monday to Saturday 12pm–3pm and 6pm–8.30pm.

Sunday 12pm–4pm