New Biggleswade restaurant will be pub too

Kaysar Hussain, who will open new Bangladeshi restaurant Shunar Bangla at the former Hopbine pub premises in Biggleswade on Tuesday (July 19), will welcome former regulars and new customers alike.

Shunar Bangla will be run as a pub and a restaurant, so regular drinkers at the former inn can pick up where they left off.

Kaysar, who will run the Drove Road eaterie with co-owner and award-winning chef Bellath Ullah said: “Whether customers just want to come in for a drink or a meal, everyone will be welcome.

“One part of the building will be the pub where we will be selling a range of beers, lagers and spirits, while the other will be the restaurant serving authentic Bangladeshi cuisine.”

Kaysar, who also runs The Nawabs Takeaway in Hitchin Street, will also be donating all of the proceeds he makes on Tuesday to the East Anglian Air Ambulance (EAAA) charity, before the official opening on Wednesday.

He added: “We are keen to support local charities so we thought donating money to an important cause like the EAAA would be a good way to launch the business.”

Regular drinkers at The Hopbine were disappointed when they heard rumours that the pub would be replaced with a restaurant, and Kaysar has always been keen to maintain the pub side of the business so former customers can return.

He said: “The Hopbine was run as a pub for decades, it was designed to be a pub and that has always been the function it has served and there was no way we were going to change that.

““Former Hopbine customers can rest assured that we will be selling a good range of locally-brewed beers and the pub side will be very similar to how it was before.

“We want to welcome everyone here and not put anyone off.”

For the full story see the Biggleswade Chronicle of Friday, July 15.