East Anglia Operator Takes on Third Star Lease

East Anglia based multiple operator, Lapen Inns, has taken on the lease for The Wildfowler in Kings Lynn, their third with Star Pubs. The pub has been renamed the Queen Elizabeth and undergone a £100,000 refurbishment by Star Pubs including new signage.

The move brings the Lapen Inns estate to eight. It is run by Subodh Gautam together with business partners Ravi Acharya and Purnaman Bajcharya. They started running their own pubs in 2021 when they took on the Star Pubs lease for The Railway Whittlesey. They went on to open The Bell in Sawtry, Cambridgeshire; The Old Crown, in Girton, Cambridgeshire; and The Angler in Oakham, Leicestershire, another Star Pubs lease. All are family friendly community pubs offering Nepalese food.

Says Subodh: “I came to England in 2009 as a student and worked in a Birmingham pub that offered Nepalese dining. Having opened a café in London and run a pub in Staffordshire, I decided to build a pub operation across the East of England offering Nepalese dining. Our plan is to open another five sites in the next two years.”

“With each venture, we listen to what customers want, as the pubs are theirs and where they socialise. All seven of our trading sites are successful and I am confident the Queen Elizabeth will be so too. They all offer competitive prices, great quality food and drinks, well-maintained comfortable environments, and a high standard of service. They also offer takeaways, which provides an additional income stream. It is a business model that is perfect for the current economic climate. The key to success for us is for our pubs to have a good local community around them and to offer great quality affordable food.”

Says Star Pubs Business Development Manager, Nick Paul says: “Subodh and his partners know the market they are targeting and have a distinctive popular food offer which they can scale up as opportunities arise. The Queen Elizabeth ticks the boxes in having a great community around it, a good location and is in a good state of repair. I wish Subodh, Ravi and Purnaman success with their growth plans.”