Moor Hall, the long-awaited new restaurant near Liverpool from Simon Rogan’s former right-hand man Mark Birchall, is now open for bookings from March 1 and may be serving meals before then.

Birchall, who spent nine years at L’Enclume, Rogan’s ground-breaking gastro destination in Cumbria, has had to be patient while Moor Hall, a historic Grade II* property with original Jacobean wood panelling and carved fireplaces, has undergone an 18-month renovation.

A two-phase opening will see the glass-walled restaurant with seven bedrooms operational from March, followed in mid-year by a converted barn containing an informal dining area, meat-ageing room, charcuterie and dairy. Although surrounded by farmland, Moor Hall is only 12 miles or 25 minutes by train from Liverpool, near the town of Ormskirk.

Birchall was born in nearby Chorley and has a stellar CV, having trained under the legendary Franco Taruschio at the Walnut Tree in Abergavenny and Nigel Haworth at Northcote. As a 2011 Roux Scholar he worked at El Celler de Can Roca in Catalonia, twice voted the best restaurant in the world.

Tables and rooms can already be booked from the formal March 1 opening, but for those who can’t wait it might be a good idea to keep a close eye on its website for news of earlier tables.