stouravonmagazine.co.uk
50 New Stour & Avon, June 3, 2022
Business Multi-award-winning restaurateur Andy Lennox, inset, is bringing his Nusara Thai brand to Wimborne. He’s signed a 15-year lease on a two-storey building in Crown Court, just off The Square. Twenty-five new jobs, a mix of full and part-time, will be created with the opening of Nusara Wimborne in August. It joins ‘sister’ Nusara restaurants in Christchurch and Poole. Both have proved highly popular, scoring 5/5 and 4.5/5 respectively on TripAdvisor, based on 190 customer reviews. Nusara Wimborne will have a total of 115 covers, 75 inside and 40 outside. Offering in-house dining, takeaway, delivery and private dining, Nusara promises to ‘combine the age-old tradition of fire grilling alongside time-honoured recipes with a balanced Thai menu of meat, fish and plant.’ It ends a 10-year search by Andy for a suitable location in the town. He said: “We want to make this a leafy, gardenesque courtyardstyle restaurant with a small cocktail bar and an upstairs Treehouse-style restaurant. We want to get it exactly right.”
Andrew Diprose is the founder and editor of dorsetbiznews.co.uk, the No.1 business website in the county with more than 25,000 unique users
Creating a new Thai in town In excess of £150,000 is now being spent on the building,
which was previously a Chinese restaurant. But Andy, who lives in Wimborne, said: “It’s just aesthetic. I love a new site, it’s the fun part of the whole thing.” The 35-year-old also revealed plans to launch a version of his Zim Braai South African restaurant in Wimborne. Currently he has Zim Braai restaurants in Ashley Cross and Bournemouth. He said: “We’re looking to bring a version that we think could fit well.” Nusara, Zim Braai and also The Old Thatch Wimborne are part of
the Fired Up Collective. Formed in December 2020, they’re a collection of boutique hospitality brands in Dorset. Andy said growth plans included introducing additional brands. Nusara has been presented with Thai Select Signature status, the highest accolade for Thai Food by the Royal Thai government. It also received the highly coveted Ambassadors Choice by the Thai Ambassador to the UK in a recent ceremony.
Southwest solicitors sponsor major Thomas Hardy exhibition A legal firm with a 300 year history in the West Country is sponsoring the major new exhibition, Hardy’s Wessex. Battens Solicitors, which has six offices in Somerset and Dorset, was founded at Church House in Church Street, Yeovil, in the 18th century, before moving to its current HQ in Princes Street. The branch would have been open in 1876 when Thomas Hardy and his wife Emma
lived in lodgings at 7 St Peter Street, Yeovil. The couple stayed there from March to July, during which time Hardy corrected the final proofs of his novel, The Hand of Ethelberta. Battens’ sponsorship has helped Wessex Museums create this major exhibition – the largest collection of Hardy objects ever displayed at one time. Harriet Still, the exhibition
curator, said: “We are hugely grateful to Battens for their sponsorship. It is especially fitting our sponsor is so rooted in Wessex where Hardy found his inspiration.” Managing director of Battens Solicitors, Ceri Stephens, said: “Battens has a long history of supporting the arts both as a company and also through its charitable trust. We are delighted to sponsor this event which celebrates
both Hardy’s talent as a writer and the wonderful Wessex countryside and community.” Hardy’s Wessex spans the four Wessex Museums partners – Dorset, Poole, Wiltshire and Salisbury Museums. Each explores a different Hardy theme. Find out more on the Wessex Museums website: wessexmuseums.org.uk/ hardyswessex.
