Ribby Hall Village Launches Three New Eateries Enhancing Your Holiday Experience

Posted on July 23rd, 2010
 

Ribby Hall Village in Lancashire improves its restaurant offering with the launch of three new eateries; The Restaurant, Papa John’s and The Cafe-Bar. The eateries enhance the 5 star rating of the award-winning self catering holiday village and provide guests with more choice on their holidays.

On the 1st July 2010 Ribby Hall Village opened Papa John’s.  The world’s third largest pizza company has nearly 140 stores across the UK and has won the Pizza, Pasta and Italian Food Association’s Pizza Delivery Chain of the Year Award in four of the last six years.  This is a rather special Papa John’s Pizzeria as it feels more like a restaurant than a takeaway outlet. There is a stylish seating area, a salad bar, and alcohol is served.  It is already proving to be a huge hit with guests.

The Restaurant at Ribby Hall Village is a new fine dining venture and will offer guests to the Village modern British food, excellent service in a relaxed and informal environment.  Headed up by Chef, Andrew Birch who has gained his knowledge through the kitchens of numerous AA Rosette and Michelin-Starred restaurants including Whatley Manor (4 AA Rosettes & 2 Michelin Stars), St Martins Hotel, Isles of Scilly (3 AA Rosettes, 1 Michelin Star) and for celebrity chefs Chris & James Tanner at Tanners Restaurant (2 AA Rosettes).

The Café-Bar offers guests fresh, well-presented and seasonal café bar favourites such as Salmon Fishcakes, Eggs Benedict and Salads and includes a children’s menu with regular offers.  The new lunch and evening menus are devised by new Head Chef, Jamie Green, along with consultant Michael Noonan.   Michael Noonan was Head Chef at Paul Heathcote’s 3 AA Rosette Longridge Restaurant for many years before becoming Group Head Chef overseeing all of Heathcote’s restaurants.   Michael will be launching the new restaurant at the multi-million pound Hotel & Spa development at Ribby Hall Village in Spring 2011 as well as overseeing all eateries on the Village.

 

Posted in Business Conferences, Dining, Fitness and Leisure, General, Holiday Homes for Sale, Short Breaks and Holidays, Village Life Store and Cafe, Weddings

Fitness fundraising success

Posted on July 21st, 2010
 

Staff and health club members at Ribby Hall Village raised £6500 for Pear Tree School in Kirkham.  Fundraising events included a 30 mile Windmill Bike Ride from Fairhaven to Elswick, The Blackpool 10K run, a Casino night with Charity Auction Raffle and Starbucks 1st Birthday. Pear Tree School is based in Kirkham and caters for 75 children between the ages of 2 and 19 years from all over the Fylde Coast with severe learning and physical difficulties.

 

Posted in Fitness and Leisure

Ribby Hall Village Goes for Gold in the Green Stakes

Posted on July 19th, 2010
 

Ribby Hall Village is taking part in the Green Tourism Business Scheme in order to judge the impact of the environmental improvements it has made so far and discover what needs to be done in the future.

Ribby Hall Village takes its environmental responsibilities very seriously and has made big improvements over the years by reducing the amount of energy used across the Village and increasing their recycling facilities so that less waste is sent to landfill sites. The Green Tourism Business Scheme will help the Village to look at every part of the business and see what it’s doing well and where it could do better.  Businesses that are part of Green Tourism are assessed by a qualified grading advisor against a rigorous set of criteria covering a range of areas such as; energy and water efficiency; waste management; biodiversity and more. Based on its performance, Ribby Hall Village will then be graded Gold, Silver or Bronze.

The current network of members includes a wide range of business types, including, amongst others, accommodation providers, visitor attractions and corporations.  By joining a network like this and taking part in the assessments, Ribby Hall Village hopes to continue to improve its surroundings for future visitors and demonstrate how serious they are about looking after the environment in which we live in a way that is open, honest and will stand up to scrutiny.

The Village is being graded on the 11th August and is going for Gold (fingers crossed!). Watch this space…

For more information on green tourism visit www.green-tourism.co.uk and www.lancashiregreentourism.com

 

Posted in Business Conferences, Dining, Fitness and Leisure, General, Holiday Homes for Sale, Short Breaks and Holidays, Village Life Store and Cafe, Weddings

Ribby Hall Village launches NEW restaurant with top chef, Andrew Birch bringing relaxed fine dining to the Fylde Coast

Posted on June 28th, 2010
 

The Restaurant at Ribby Hall Village launches on Wednesday 30th June 2010 with new chef Andrew Birch at the helm, new kitchen team, new front of house team and new and exciting menus.  Re-named simply The Restaurant, it will offer guests to the Village and local residents, modern classic food, excellent service and a relaxed and informal environment.

Since Nigel Smith announced his departure, Paul Harrison, Chairman & Managing Director and Paul Green, Food & Beverage Manager, have been working hard to recruit a stellar team to launch The Restaurant.  Andrew Birch has extensive experience in the kitchen gaining his knowledge through the kitchens of numerous AA Rosette and Michelin-Starred restaurants throughout his career including Whatley Manor (4 AA Rosettes & 2 Michelin Stars), St Martins Hotel, Isles of Scilly (3 AA Rosettes, 1 Michelin Star) and for celebrity chefs Chris & James Tanner at Tanners Restaurant (2 AA Rosettes), amongst others.  He joins from the Grange Hotel in York which has 2 AA Rosettes and was voted Number 37 in The Times 100 Best Restaurants in the World in 2009.  He brings with him a team of 7 chefs. 

Front of house is headed up by Kate Taylor who has worked in many fine dining restaurants and hotels around the World, most recently the four-star McDonalds Hotel in Manchester’s Piccadilly.  She is assisted by Jenna Collins who has worked in catering for ten years including Malmaison and Michelin-starred restaurant Northcote Manor. 

The Restaurant will be open 7 days a week for evening meals and also for Sunday Lunch from 12-3pm.  It will offer a Market Menu, a regularly changing seasonal menu; a Tasting Menu of five or seven courses showcasing the best of Andrew’s dishes; an A la Carte Menu and a Sunday Lunch Menu.  The extensive wine list features over 150 wines from around the World, with some truly superb fine wines – the connoisseurs will have a field day!

Andrew is passionate about using locally sourced ingredients and believes in letting the flavour of the food speak for itself:

“Really good produce needs to be treated with respect, I like to keep it simple and enhance the flavours of the food through skilful cooking.”

He adds, “I couldn’t resist the offer to come to Ribby Hall Village, it’s a great opportunity to showcase my cooking which is constantly changing and adapting.  Paul Harrison and Paul Green have been incredibly supportive and I’m looking forward to bringing something new to the area, a fantastic dining experience serving good, honest, local food transformed into something really special.”

Paul Harrison comments:  “There’s a lot going on at Ribby Hall Village with regards to our food offering.  Andrew Birch and the team at The Restaurant will add to our overall five-star rating.  He’s a young, ambitious chef with fantastic cooking skills and we’re really excited about what he’s going to bring to the Village.  Papa John’s pizzeria is opening the same week offering guests and local residents even more choice and the pizzas are delicious.  We also have some exciting developments at the Café Bar – due to be announced shortly.”

For reservations, please call 01772 671 155.

 

Posted in Business Conferences, Dining, Fitness and Leisure, General, Holiday Homes for Sale, Short Breaks and Holidays, Weddings

Pizza giant coming to Lancashire

Posted on June 26th, 2010
 

Ribby Hall Village and Lancashire’s Fylde Coast is benefiting from a £250,000 investment, when the world’s third largest pizza company opens it’s store on Thursday 1st July at the holiday village in Wrea Green.

Papa John’s Pizza, which has nearly 140 stores across the UK, has won the Pizza, Pasta and Italian Food Association’s Pizza Delivery Chain of the Year Award in four of the last six years. The opening has created jobs for eight local people, who have been recruited as pizzaiolos and store assistants.

Store Manager, Lucy Holland, is confident that Papa John’s award-winning pizzas will prove to be a big success with visitors to the Village, as well as residents in the surrounding area.

Lucy says: “We’re delighted to have secured Papa John’s at Ribby Hall Village. Papa John’s is famous for its ‘Better Ingredients, Better Pizza’ philosophy and I’m sure our customers will be able to taste the difference when they try our 100% fresh dough pizzas.

“This is going to be a rather special Papa John’s store as it feels more like a restaurant than a take away outlet. We have a seating area, a salad bar, and we will also be serving alcohol. We are looking forward to welcoming our first customers on Thursday.”

Papa John’s Pizza was founded in the USA in 1984 and now has more than 3400 stores in 29 countries.

Opening Times:

Monday-Thursday 12 – 9:30pm

Friday & Saturday 12 – 11:30pm

Sunday 12 – 9:30pm

Call 01772 674 400

 

Posted in Business Conferences, Dining, Fitness and Leisure, General, Holiday Homes for Sale, Short Breaks and Holidays, Weddings

Zumba – A Dynamic Workout System Designed To Make Fitness Fun!

Posted on May 27th, 2010
 

Zumba is proving to be so popular with our Health Club members we are hosting our very own 2 hour ‘Zumbathon’ Saturday 19th June 2pm – 4pm.

This unique aerobics class combines the latest Latin musical rhythms and dance moves using Merenge, Cumbia, Salsa, Samba and Reggaeton.  The routines feature interval-training sessions where fast and slow rhythms and resistance training combine to tone and sculpt your body whilst burning fat.

This specially extended class is only £5.50, so join all your Ribby Hall Village instructors and UK Zumba Instructors for a caloric burning, heart racing, muscle pumping, body energising and fun workout.

Payment must be made at time of booking.  Pre-booking is essential for all individuals.

 

Posted in Fitness and Leisure

Oldest Health Club Member at Ribby Hall Village Shares Secret to his Youthful Appearance and Outlook on Life

Posted on February 23rd, 2010
 

John Greenhough and his wife Diana swim half a mile twice a week at the Sport & Leisure Centre, Ribby Hall Village.  This sounds pretty unremarkable until you learn that John was 90 in February!

The couple come to Ribby Hall Village to swim in the adult-only 25m swimming pool.  Both go to the gym for stretching, working out on the rowing machines and doing resistance training in the state-of-the-art gym.  Over a cup of tea in Harrison’s Bar after a workout, John and Diana spoke of their history, how they met, and how they stay so fit and positive. 

John and Diana have always exercised, starting with running.  Now they stretch every day for at least 15 minutes.  John comments:  “Ribby Hall Village is ideal as you can take exercise in various different ways.  The swimming attracted us but we also use the gym for rowing and resistance.  And we usually have a cup of tea in Harrison’s Bar afterwards.”

The former High Sheriff of Lancashire and a senior Colonel in the British Army during the Second World War, tells how the love of his life, Diana keeps him happy and motivated.  On first seeing Diana on D-Day while in the UK for reinforcements, John says, “It was as though Cupid’s arrow was shot through my heart.”  John returned a year later and they have now been married for 62 years.

After the war John went into publishing in London and started up Cheshire Life, Yorkshire Life and Lancashire Life.  Eventually he moved North and became the Managing Director of JR Taylor Department Store in St Annes from 1968 to 1976.  While there, John started up the Danish Kitchen restaurant.  They ended up with seven restaurants where Diana and a team of cooks did all of the baking.  They ran the restaurants for ten years before retiring. 

They may be retired, but this couple’s lust for life shows no signs of abating.  When the weather improves, they will increase their visit to the swimming pool to three times per week.  As John says: “We love coming to Ribby Hall Village, everyone is so welcoming and helpful, we always have a chat with the staff.  We like to exercise regularly, meet new people and we just like living.”

 

Posted in Fitness and Leisure

Ribby Hall Village’s Health Club Member Loses a Record 10 Stone in 10 Months

Posted on January 19th, 2010
 

Andy McDonald, a Health Club member who joined Ribby Hall Village on 31st March 2009 is celebrating losing  a record TEN stone in just TEN months!

Husband and father-of-two Andy, became inspired by a story in the Blackpool Gazette by the news editor, Jon Rhodes, who had run the New York marathon.  The story really struck a chord with Andy, and he decided to finally do something about his health and fitness levels.

Andy, and his wife and children, joined Ribby Hall Village and, although Andy initially joined to lose weight, it has now become a lifestyle choice.

“I’m addicted,” comments Andy, “From the moment I walked in the front door the friendly, welcoming atmosphere made me feel comfortable and not intimidated.  I don’t have a goal or target weight; I just really enjoy the exercise and the social element and want to keep on coming. ”

Andy uses all the facilities and equipment and his family are equally addicted, buying each other presents of a personal training session with trainer, Tony Albanese.  Despite the fact that Andy’s wife is a Baker starting work at 4.30am and finishing at 6.30pm plus the family live near Thornton Cleveley’s, she still makes regular trips to Ribby Hall Village with her daughter after work to wind down.  Andy comes several times per week, usually with his son, to spend a few hours in the gym lifting weights, working out and socialising.

Andy, who jokes his favourite form of exercise is “lifting a beer in the bar afterwards”, now can’t imagine not coming to Ribby Hall Village.  “Being a member here is not just a health purchase, it’s a lifestyle purchase. As well as a gym there are swimming pools, fitness classes, racquet sports, a bar, a shop and Starbucks.  Everyone’s really friendly and me and my family are thoroughly enjoying the benefits.”

 

Posted in Fitness and Leisure

Health Club Membership going for GOLD!

Posted on December 18th, 2009
 

As previous winners in 2008 of the Club Mirror Awards, the scene was set for what we hoped would be another successful year.   Following a long and difficult short listing process, the Sport & Leisure complex at Ribby Hall Village is proud to have made it to the final short list once again.  This prestigious National Industry award recognises the ‘best of the best’ in health clubs nationwide as Ribby Hall Village continues to strive for excellence in every aspect of its business.

 

Posted in Fitness and Leisure

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