OWNERS of a cosy pub and restaurant are ‘ecstatic’ to have become the best ranked bar and pub in the Windermere area on TripAdvisor.

Kyle Richardson-Gittons, 27, and wife Jess, 26, became landlords of The Westmorland Inn on Lake Road in Bowness in July 2023.

It was the first time they had taken on the responsibility of running their own establishment, and through hard work and dedication, they have flourished ever since.

The pub has a total of 715 reviews ranked at 4.5/5 - with 576 ‘Excellent’ reviews and 94 ‘Very Good’ reviews.

“It’s hellish being the landlord of a pub, but I’m really enjoying it,” Kyle said. "It was a big challenge to take on.

"I’ve been a chef at two rosette restaurants in the past.

“We won best gastropub five years in a row at one of my spots.

“I thought to myself why am I doing this for someone else when I can do it for myself?

“We’re ecstatic about being number one on TripAdvisor. It’s a massive compliment to the work we are doing.

“It’s all happened within such a short period of time. I’m thrilled for all of our staff members and really happy with how everything is going.”

The couple have also modernised the pub and refined the menu by removing all frozen items.

Kyle added: “Everything is now made freshly in-house. I would rather spend more money on quality products and ingredients than get cheap frozen food that doesn’t taste as good.

“Since we took over we have painted the whole of the bar area to make it a bit quirkier.

“We’ve also totally stripped out the restaurant and painted everything white.”

In the future they hope to open the pub up to art exhibitions and install a rooftop terrace with a smokehouse BBQ.

“Jess is a tattoo artist by trade, but she has a degree in fine art,” Kyle explained.

“She’s going to do some oil paintings to sell in the restaurant downstairs so we’ve got more of an art gallery theme as well. We then plan to open it up for local artist exhibitions.

“I’d also like to open a little smokehouse vibe on the roof as there are not many BBQ places around. It would be good to put a few smoked items on the menu this summer to see how it goes.

“Eventually, I’d like to try and make The Westmorland Inn as a rosette restaurant.”