Tipsy Turtle is the trendy restaurant in Lee-on-the-Solent dishing up fresh pizzas and delectable cocktails

Tipsy Turtle, located in Lee-on-the-Solent high street, is the brain child of Alan Shorthouse who has over 20 years of experience in the industry.

After working at Wetherspoons for more than two decades, Alan always dreamt of owning his own restaurant so when the opportunity arose, he took the plunge.

Tipsy Turtle opened in last August and it has made a splash with locals. The bar and restaurant prides itself on its innovative cocktail menu which features the tiki turtle cocktail and the surfrider punch.

Alan said: “I’ve been in the trade since I was 18 and I worked for Wetherspoons for well over 20 years and anyone who’s worked in the trade, that’s the dream - to have your own venue - so the opportunity came up so I just went for it - took the plunge.

“It’s been really good. The people of Lee-on-the-Solent are lovely, they’ve been really supportive especially through the winter when it’s a bit tougher. It’s been really really good - well received.”

The charming venue serves up a range of sublime dishes including hunter’s chicken, carbonara, sweet chilli prawns, pizza and much more. Customers can tuck into breakfast, lunch and dinner throughout the week as well as a Sunday roast which has been a firm favourite since opening.

As a small business owner himself, Alan explained that he uses a number of traders in the local area to ensure Tipsy Turtle supports others in the industry.

He said: “I’m really proud that we are a small local business and we try and support other small local businesses. For example the butchers over the road, we use their meats for food on the menu and everything on our menu is fresh, we don’t buy stuff in and microwave it.

“I think we do good food but I think the special part is the cocktail range. It’s been really popular in the local area. We make them all fresh, nothing out of the can.

“I would probably say the pizzas are the most popular - our pizzas are made fresh, the dough is made on site, completely fresh and they have been well received. We do a pizza buy one-get-one free deal on Wednesday nights so that’s been really popular.”

For more information about Tipsy Turtle, click here.

Take a look inside the trendy Tipsy Turtle: