Chef Josh Eggleton opens 'destination cookery school' at Chew Valley restaurant

Bristol chef Josh Eggleton MBE and his sister Holly have redesigned The Pony Chew Valley into a 'destination restaurant and cookery school'. Formerly The Pony & Trap, The Pony Chew Valley has been redesigned inside and out following a three-year planning and renovation project.

It boasts panoramic views over to Bath and Bristol and now comprises a restaurant, cookery school, ornamental and edible gardens, beehives and orchards, with plans to become a 'micro farm' and expand into wellness experiences, and more in the future. As well as hosting courses and volunteer programmes, the restaurant will be used as a flagship training hub for The Pony Group.

The Pony Group includes Salt & Malt (in both Chew Valley and Bristol's Wapping Wharf), The Kensington Arms (in Bristol) and Root (in both Bristol and Wells). However, at its heart the team says it remains a restaurant serving up 'produce-led, modern British dishes, championing local farmers and producers', from afternoon tea right through to a la carte dining.

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The Pony was awarded a Michelin star in 2011 and was consistently listed in the Top 50 Gastropubs at the peak of the UK gastro pub movement. The menu has continued to 'stay true to its pub roots', with the likes of a proper Ploughman's, and ham, egg and chips, sat alongside more elevated dishes, on the menu.

The Pony's new a la carte menu changes daily to reflect produce and seasonality, with Josh and his team guided by local farmers and the produce grown in the on-site vegetable garden. Holly, who was just 19 years old when she took on the role of front of house manager, can often be found cutting flowers and herbs from the gardens ahead of service, to dress tables and garnish drinks in the restaurant.

A midweek set menu is available from Wednesday- Friday from 12-2pm & 5.30-6.30pm, offering three courses for £25. While a Chef’s Tasting Menu is available Friday and Saturday evenings, with seasonal specials running alongside à la carte. And the hugely popular Sunday lunch is available every Sunday 12-4pm, serving three courses for £45.

Now Josh and Holly, who both grew up in South Bristol, are keen to use the space to feed the community in more ways than one, sharing their knowledge and skills gained from over two decades in the industry. This includes providing access to food education and exploring ways to tackle food inequality, such as volunteer programmes with local charitable partners. The team also regularly hosts local primary schools to inspire a love of fresh food in the next generation.

Key to their efforts is bringing people out of the nearby city of Bristol to experience a rural smallholding, discovering how food is grown and foraged before it reaches the kitchen. The cookery school at The Pony offers a wealth of classes in their upstairs demo kitchen and ten-station space.

They offer a range of cookery experiences - from workshops to classes, often led by Josh himself, Rob Howell, Chef Patron of Root, or partnering with top local producers. Josh is, in fact, the founder and creator of Team Canteen, a community interest company that spearheads a multitude of charity projects and grassroots initiatives that champion new food businesses and underrepresented communities in the city.

One example is The Anti-Banquet, held in February this year to tackle food inequality. Anti-Banquet raised £100,000 for the Bristol Local Food Fund, which supports community food projects. Funds were allocated by a Citizens Panel made up of local people with lived experience of food insecurity, to help those most in need.

Meanwhile, back in 2021, Josh was awarded an MBE for services to the community in Bristol during Covid-19, having founded Cheers Drive, the precursor to Team Canteen, in partnership with Caring in Bristol. Established to feed the city’s homeless, they brought industry colleagues together to produce 1,200 meals a day in five locations across four production kitchens, using surplus food throughout the city to feed three meals a day to vulnerable people and frontline workers.