Josh Eggleton launching restaurant at new Bristol food hub this September

Michelin starred chef, Josh Eggleton and the team behind food festival Eat Drink Bristol Fashion will launch Chicken Shed this September as part of CARGO, a new space for independent food and retailers on Bristol’s Harbourside.

The new restaurant and take-away will serve beak to foot of British chickens, using free-range, slow grown and GM free meat from local suppliers.

Josh Eggleton said: “It’s been a bit of a burning idea I’ve had for ages and as time goes on I’ve been thinking I really need to do this. When I was a kid I used to love fried chicken so I always said I would love to do a happy fried chicken shop with high welfare chicken which was really the inspiration behind it really. Then we thought we can’t just do fried chicken we should do whole chicken from beak-to-foot.

“We’ll be using every part of the bird in the dishes we serve. Customers can expect delicious roasted chicken, fried chicken legs, soft boiled eggs, curly fries, chicken in a bun and salads.”

The Chicken Shed menu will be built around fried chicken, with an emphasis on only using happy birds that have been raised to high welfare standards.

With a terrace which will be open all day overlooking the beautiful floating harbour, Chicken Shed will take its place alongside other independent food businesses from the city in CARGO including The Bristol Cider Shop, independent wine and spirit retailers Corks of Cotham and The Jolly Hog.

Speaking to the Staff Canteen about choosing to open at the CARGO site, Josh said: “I used to work in a restaurant right around the corner from where Cargo is going to be about 15 years ago and it was nice to come back to that. The floating harbour is the heartbeat of Bristol and it’s really coming alive, and to be down there would be fantastic. There’s also going to be a lot of other independent retailers from Bristol down there so it’s going to be a real reflection of the city and it’s going to be great to be a part of that.”

CARGO will be made from converted shipping containers and will be home to an array of independent retailers. It is part of Wapping Wharf, a new quarter on Bristol’s harbourside, which is now coming to life with residents moved in and retailers open on site.

The food festival, Eat Drink Bristol Fashion was created by Michelin starred Bristol chef Josh Eggleton of The Pony & Trap along with Amelia Twine, Nick Roberts and organic farmer Luke Hasell with the aim to promote sustainability and food provenance in and around Bristol.