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Latimer Hinks solicitors helps family’s dreams of turning village pub into gastro delight
Latimer Hinks Solicitors has helped the next generation of a well-known family of caterers with their first move into the licenced trade.
The Wade family have taken ownership of the Vane Arms at Thorpe Thewles, a small village between Stockton and Durham, in a £250,000 transaction conducted by Latimer Hinks, with husband and wife team Tom and Vanessa Wade running the pub.
Toms father Ray Wade has run the kitchen since the couple took over the pub as tenants last October, and it is already earning a strong reputation for good quality, locally sourced food.
Ray runs a well-respected outside catering business, used to have Wades Coffee House in Darlingtons Post House Wynd and, before that, owned (with Ralph Wilkinson of Number Twenty2 fame) The George at Piercebridge. Toms wife Vanessa is also a talented pastry chef, having worked for Gordon Ramsey in New York, and latterly as a technical chef for a major chocolate company.
Tom Wade, 28, said: “The help we have received from Latimer Hinks has been invaluable in securing the purchase of our pub. We are delighted to become owners of the Vane Arms, and are now looking forward to making the pub a real community hub and building a reputation for great quality, locally sourced food.
“We are already receiving excellent feedback from our growing number of customers, and are in the process of employing a full-time chef to help us build on our reputation for quality food and drink in great surroundings. The ingredients we use are all sourced as locally as possible and our menu changes on a daily basis. Weve had a brilliant welcome to the village, and the villagers have made us feel that were really making a difference to whats on offer locally.
Nicola Neilson, a partner at Latimer Hinks Solicitors, conducted the legal work on the deal to buy the pub, formerly owned by Punch Taverns.
She said: “Were very pleased to have been able to help the Wades in the purchase of the Vane Arms. The pub has been going from strength to strength since they took over the tenancy last autumn; however they will now be able to put their own stamp on the pub as the new owners.
