A farming family have opened a ‘farm to fork’ burger bar in the Colne Valley.
The Garside Family, who run Highfield Farm above Slaithwaite, has opened Rumpus in the village to rave reviews.
The artisan burger bar sells freshly-made burgers at the Church Street venue using meat from the family farm just half a mile away, where 20 long horn cattle and 180 commercial cattle reside.
Harry Garside, 23, is leading the new business venture Rumpus, which opens Wednesday to Sunday.
Harry, an agriculture with farm business management graduate, explained the idea behind it and said: “While I was at university, I did a year-long placement at Newbottle Estate farm in Oxfordshire.
“They had a long horn herd and a butcher’s shop. It was a real field to fork experience.
“There’s a big demand for the beef because of its marbled taste so I told my dad, Tim, that we should find another way to sell our beef.
“After university, I spent seven months in New Zealand, where there are a lot of burger bars so that’s when our idea really came to fruition.”
While Rumpus is a family venture, they employ a chef and cashier and will be seeking a new staff member soon.
All burgers, the Longhorn; The Classic; Black and Blue; Fear the Beast and Tex Mex, are made using the cattle which can be seen roaming the fields above Slaithwaite.
Vegetarians are catered for too with the ‘Leaf Eater’, plus they make Mini-Moo burgers – a smaller burger for children.
All burgers are cooked to order, so it’s as fresh as it can be.
Rumpus is also selling dry-ageing locally-reared rumps, fillets and steaks – a 30 day process of maturing meat on or off the bone. It has proven popular and one of the first customers was former butcher Eric Weaving, who ran the Slaithwaite butchers shop for over 40 years.
Plus a dining area will soon open above the kitchen so customers can eat-in.
“Initial sales have been good. We’ve had plenty of customers,” Harry added.
Highfield Farm is situated on 950 acres of Colne Valley grassland and moorland.
The new venture was supported by Pennine Prospects, which aims to support the younger generation of farmers develop their ideas.
Rumpus is open Wednesday and Thursdays 11.30am-8pm; Friday 11:30am - 10pm; Saturday 11:30am - 10pm and Sunday 11:30am - 7pm.
