Mat Follas moving from Beaminster to Iwerne Minster

M Manning
Blackmore Vale Magazine
3 April 2013

Mat Follas, pictured at last year’s Taste of Dorset Awards, is coming to The Talbot in Iwerne Minster

DORSET based MasterChef winner Mat Follas is moving from Beaminster to Iwerne Minster.

Mat, who presented last year's Blackmore Vale Magazine Taste of Dorset Awards, announced this week that his team will be taking over The Talbot in late May.

The celebrity chef has entered a business partner agreement with Blandford's Hall & Woodhouse Brewery after four successful years at The Wild Garlic in Beaminster.

Mat said: "We've loved being in our home town of Beaminster, but its time to grow the business and The Talbot in Iwerne Minster ticks all the boxes for what we are looking for. It has five great rooms that we can let and will have a seven day bar and grill offering great pub and bistro food, as well as a separate space for running our increasingly popular courses in the daytime and an evening restaurant.

"Our customers have asked for more rooms, a

more casual, family menu and I'll still be able
to provide higher end food in our evening restaurant for more intimate and quieter dining. The big challenge is to provide all of these with the same, or better, quality and standards we've achieved to date."
After winning MasterChef, Mat opened The Wild Garlic on the site of the Pickwicks Pub in Beaminster. His restaurant quickly gained two of the highest ever ratings in The Telegraph and The Guardian as well as being one of a few restaurants in Dorset to gain two AA rosettes and recommendations in The Good Food Guide, The Michelin Guide and Trencherman's Guide.

Businesses in Beaminster have reported a downturn in trade since the closure of the Beaminster Tunnel, a major link to the town, after a landslip caused a fatal accident last summer.

The Wild Garlic will remain open until 18th May.