Dressers Arms bought in £1.9m deal

The Dressers Arms, Briers Brow, Wheelton, suffered a devastating blaze in April, 2014.

The Little Hong Kong Chinese restaurant, which adjoins the popular pub, was also destroyed in the blaze and temporarily put out of business before it, too, was rebuilt.

Now Jack Catterall, who owns the restaurant, has bought the pub from its owner Steve Turner.

Not wishing to reveal exactly how much he paid for the Dressers Arms, Jack said: “It wasn’t far off the asking price.”

He explained: “Since the back end of last year I was looking for another venture, another restaurant, and after a couple of months did find a few places.

“We were going to go towards Manchester, we had something lined up towards the Didsbury area.

“The pub came on the market and as the weeks went by it became more apparent it would be a good opportunity.

“I’ve got a good restaurant upstairs, it would be nice to put them together – they work well together now.

“I sat down with Steve, because he’s like a family friend, and decided to buy the building.”

He added: “We’re going to shut the pub in September for a couple of weeks and do a bit of a refurbishment to improve the experience of coming to the Dressers Arms.

“We’re going to open it up and give people a bit more space.

“The pub and the restaurant are going to stay as two separate entities, they work together.”

Chorley-born Jack, 29, said his girlfriend Olivia Rylance, 25, an accountant in Manchester, had helped with the financial paperwork for the sale at the pub where there would be changes to its food and wine menu.

He said he was looking forward to the future and the new challenge of running the Dressers Arms.

“It’s long hours, but if you’re passionate about something it doesn’t seem like work,” he said.