Old Melton pub has a new look

A former Melton pub has had an £80,000 makeover to turn it into a restaurant and late night live music venue.
New owners of the White Lion, Melton, which is now a restaurant and late night live music venue EMN-160811-130351001New owners of the White Lion, Melton, which is now a restaurant and late night live music venue EMN-160811-130351001
New owners of the White Lion, Melton, which is now a restaurant and late night live music venue EMN-160811-130351001

The White Lion, in Nottingham Street, has been closed for almost a year.

And it officially reopens tomorrow (Friday) serving a different clientele.

The new owners - brothers Ben and Roberto Ladjimi and Carlos Goncalves - also own a restaurant on the shores of Rutland Water, L’Oliveto.

They will be offering traditional Italian cuisine in their new business but have retained the old pub name.

Ben said: “I have lived in Melton for 25 years and this was my dream to open a restaurant here.

“I came to this country with nothing and we have made a success of our restaurant at Rutland Water.

“Customers can come and eat here and then at 10pm they can go through to the room at the back to listen to live music.

“It is somewhere older people can come and enjoy their evening.”

The new owners said the building was in a bad state of repair when they first it over earlier this year.

Ben said: “It was awful when we first saw it so we have had to spend a lot of money to improve it.

“It is in a great location in the centre of town ands we are confident we will do well.

“We are already fully booked up for Christmas.”

The business employs 20 full and part-time staff

Carlos is executive chef as he is at their Rutland venue, which was named Best European Restaurant at the East Midlands Food and Drink Awards in 2012.

Carvery food will be served on Tuesday and Saturday market days.

Ben added: “We will be having live salsa music every Thursday night and we will also have Mexican and other types of live music.”

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