Visitors to the Ironbridge Gorge Museums at Coalbrookdale will be able to extend their day at the historic attractions when the new Furnace Kitchen destination restaurant opens on 22 July overseen by celebrity chef, Marcus Bean.
Bringing fantastic fresh and locally sourced food to Coalbrookdale, the Furnace Kitchen will be serving brunch, lunch, coffee and tea, cakes and main meals. The menu will feature an exciting mix of modern British cuisine and European classics, all hand-made in the state-of-the-art kitchen by a hand-picked team of chefs.
Daytime options will include barista-made coffee, home-made cakes and tasty light bites such as salads, sandwiches and slow cooked dishes, making the best of local and national produce. The Furnace Kitchen also has an on-site pizza oven, so they’ll be serving fresh, oven roasted pizzas, and a great selection of other dishes to suit all dietary requirements. There’s also a special children’s menu.
Returning to Shropshire where he first started his cookery career by opening a pub back in 2005, celebrity chef Marcus Bean’s passion for cooking has driven him to win Channel 4’s Iron Chef UK as well as making numerous TV appearances including ITV’s ‘This Morning’ and taking on a cookery school, bed and breakfast and a bespoke catering company.
Open to both museum visitors and the public from 8.30am until 5pm daily (9.30am-5pm on Sundays) as well as selected evenings, The Furnace Kitchen has space for 50 guests inside plus an outdoor eating area for an additional 30 people. Its located within the former Long Warehouse of the historic Coalbrookdale Company, where railway wagons would have once been loaded with their products.
Taking its name from Abraham Darby’s Old Furnace, the restaurant has been designed to blend sympathetically with the historic site with open brick work, exposed concrete and wood. It also features tiles from nearby Jackfield Tile Museum.
Delighted with the opening the new Furnace Kitchen alongside the Coalbrookdale Museums, Rory Hunter, Director of Commercial at the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust said; “We are very delighted to be able to offer the local community and all visitors to our Museums, a new and exciting destination restaurant. Diners can enjoy a relaxing meal in our smart new facility”.
For more information, visit www.thefurnacekitchen.org.uk and for details about the Ironbridge Gorge Museums www.ironbridge.org.uk or call the Ironbridge Tourist Information Centre on 01952 433 424. The Gorge is easily reached via the M54 motorway exiting at Telford junction 4 or 6.