Smokehouse coming to Kettering

Billionaires is hoping to open before Christmas at the site of Kettering’s oldest pub, The Cherry Tree in Sheep Street, which dates back to the 17th Century.

The smokehouse will prepare steaks, brisket, ribs, chicken, pork, lamb, wings and more using six smokers.

Owner Drew Wilcox, 34, said: “I love food and I go out eating all the time.

“I wanted to give Kettering something that it hasn’t got.

“There’s nothing like it around here.

“Eveyone told me not to invest in Kettering but in my eyes it’s the best place to invest.

“It’s our home and it’s where we live. Nowhere is better.”

The biggest steak on the menu will be 54oz but diners will be able to request a bigger size, with the restaurant also hoping to make their own pork scratchings.

But it won’t just be serving mounds of meat.

Drew, who was a vegetarian for 12 years, says there will be a range of options for vegetarians and vegans with people also able to bring things in to be smoked.

Options will include a vegetarian lasagne burger and beer battered mushroom as well as smoked cheeses, garlic, potatoes and an unusual smoked watermelon.

There will also be a range of juices and organic baby food with information about what is healthy for you.

Drew said: “If you want to come here and eat well, you can come here and eat well.

“If you want to pig out, you can pig out.

“It’s going to be a nice chilled environment and there will be something for everyone.”

The £500,000 project will also have a couple of surprises, which Drew isn’t ready to reveal just yet.

Downstairs will be a bar with a surprise for those with a sweet tooth, which the Kettering man believes will be the biggest under one roof in the UK.

And there will also be the chance to win prizes that will ‘make you feel like a billionaire’.

The restaurant, which has kept The Cherry Tree signage, will also serve cocktails with a mixologist on Fridays and Saturdays as well as one day in the week.

It will eventually have space for about 100 diners including outside seats, has created 15 jobs and Drew hopes it will be used as a wedding venue.

The restaurant will be the first for Drew, a builder by trade and owner of Kettering-based Forever Build.

He’s been planning it for about 10 years and looked at about 30 units before deciding on The Cherry Tree.

Drew has big ambitions for the restaurant and hopes to franchise it in Leicester or at Rushden Lakes next, with an ultimate dream of having 200 restaurants in 10 years.

He said he’s both nervous and excited about opening.

He said: “There was a stage in my life where I ate out for five years every day.

“I know how a restaurant should work.

“As long as people don’t give up on me I will make it perfect.

“This is one of my dreams.”