A NEW pub has opened its doors in Grasmere with the team behind it hoping to offer a community hub for the village's residents.

Paul and Beth Abbott, both 31 and originally from Dorset, moved to the Lake District in 2016.

The following year, they spent a winter renovating the Lake View Country House, a luxury bed and breakfast overlooking the water.

The hotel reopened to guests in April 2017, business boomed and the growth of the B&B helped Beth and Paul to buy the nearby ‘Potted Out’ cafe later on that year.

Now, after months of hard work and renovations, the venue has now become a gastro pub, named ‘The Good Sport’, and it officially opened at the end of February.

The Good Sport is the tap-room for the couple’s very own brewing venture, Grasmere Brewery, which is situated within the old farm buildings of Lake View Country House.

Paul Abbott, who has a background in PR, said that he had always visited the Lake District with family.

"I'd been travelling a lot but I loved the Lake District," he said. "I am glad to have finally got here.

"We are doing traditional English pale ales at the brewery but with more hops than you normally get in a mass market product."

The kitchen at the Stock Lane pub is being headed up by head chef John-Paul Chesworth who most recently worked at the Dale Lodge Hotel and has experience working in Michelin starred restaurants.

"As a young man I thought to myself I really like Michelin star food," he said. "But I also like the simple things in the world like a pint and a roast beef dinner."

He explained that produce was being sourced as locally as possible and his menus would always reflect the seasons so that he could deliver fresh dishes at reasonable price points.

"We want it to be a pub for Grasmere and the surrounding area," Mr Chesworth said. "For everyone to come and meet up.

"The people we are trying to provide for here in particular is the local community."