A LAKE District restaurant and bar dedicated to pork has had its ‘best ever’ summer with takings well up on last year.

The Pig restaurant and bar on Windermere’s Crescent Road is proving to be popular with customers and business is 15 per cent up on 2017 despite a slow April.

Owner Ian Dutton took a gamble in March 2016 when he opened the 40-seater Pig following a £400,000 refurbishment.

More than 70 per cent of the menu is pork based but it remained to be seen whether the fickle consumer would get on-board with his unusual vision.

“I love pork, but not everyone does! So, it was a bit of a gamble opening a restaurant dedicated to the meat,” said Mr Dutton.”However, the punters can’t seem to get enough of it. The food side of the business has taken off massively this year in particular, and this has translated into above-average profits despite being down 10 per cent in April. From May to August, we have been averaging 250 meals per day, pretty incredible for a small restaurant. I believe the secret to this season’s healthy takings are due, in part, to our innovating the menu continually, offering something different and our growing reputation for value and quality.And a sunny summer definitely helps!”

Customers at the Pig can choose from dishes such as pig feast pizza, sausage pattie with sweet onion and fried egg, and cured maple bacon chops, together with fish, seafood, vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free options.

“Pork and apple scotch eggs are still one of the most popular dishes here” says Mr Dutton, who previously worked as head chef under John Tovey at The Miller Howe Hotel and with his wife, Annette, managed The Queens Head Hotel in Troutbeck for more than eight years.

Mr Dutton’s latest restaurant – Brown Sugar – on the site of the old Lighthouse Restaurant in the heart of the village, opens later this month.

Built in 1877, Brown Sugar started life as an independent chemist and was later bought by Boots, who remained in the building until 1990. Following a significant refurbishment in 2002, the building re-opened as a three-floor restaurant named The Lighthouse.

The interior of the building will be a blend of old and new.