City Pub Company takes on former Café Rouge building in Bury St Edmunds for first site in Suffolk

A pub company has chosen Bury St Edmunds for its first venture into Suffolk by taking over a very distinct building in the town.

The City Pub Company, which formed in 2011 and has establishments across the southern half of England and Wales, agreed a deal to take over the former Café Rouge property in Abbeygate Street on Friday.

Every one of the company’s locations has depth of character and co-founder and executive chairman Clive Watson said the new acquisition fitted right into that.

He said: “It is a beautiful historic building in a lovely part of Bury St Edmunds and we like city and market town areas which have a lot of character and heritage and Bury is full of that.

“With its high ceilings, original character features and beautiful back garden, it has a lot of charm, so what is there not to like?”

Mr Watson also said he had no problem with the new site, which is set to open in 2022, being opposite Wetherspoons in The Corn Exchange

He said: “We are different to Wetherspoons and we offer quality in a different way, so for me there is no reason why we can not sit side by side in Bury.”

This venture is the company’s first in Suffolk, having already got locations in Norfolk and Cambridge.

Mr Watson added: “It feels really good to be taking us into Suffolk and we also felt it was the right place to do it in as we feel Bury really welcomes independent offerings.”

Town historian Martyn Taylor says in his various books that the sandstone and red brick building was built in 1891, to designs by John Shewell Corder for The Sun Alliance Assurance Company Ltd.

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