A TALENTED chef is giving a disused roadside restaurant near Ingleton a new lease of life by re-opening it as a cafe.

Edward Hurst has opened his new venture, the Goat Gap Cafe, on the site of the former Little Chef beside the A65 at Newby.

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Before buying the cafe in October 2015 Mr Hurst worked in London and Manchester and at renowned eateries the George and Dragon, near Penrith, and Hipping Hall, near Kirkby Lonsdale.

Mr Hurst has renovated the interior of the restaurant, as well as installing a life-sized sculpture of a goat outside the cafe created by award winning Kirkby Lonsdale sculptor Andrew Kay.

Mr Hurst said: “It has always been my dream to open my own place and it has been a lot of work preparing the cafe so it is really exciting to finally open to the public.

“We have put a lot of time into making the cafe a relaxing and pleasant atmosphere for customers and developing its open plan design so they can watch me at work in the kitchen.

“We are going to offer an eclectic mix of simple classics such as French onion soup and modern, exciting recipes like green bean, camomile and almond salad or spiced lamb shoulder with cucumber dip and flat bread.

We have worked hard to source the best ingredients we can, including coffee from Atkinsons, an award winning supplier in Lancaster.

“It’s been a real pleasure to watch the cafe take shape and bring the disused building that was here back into use. I hope our location on the A65 between the Lake District, Yorkshire Dales and Forest of Bowland means we will become a regular stop off for people visiting these areas.”