‘One-in-two-million' blue lobster delivered to Littleborough’s Hare on the Hill has found a forever home

Staff at Littleborough’s Hare on the Hill were left stunned on Tuesday (6 July) when a rare blue lobster was delivered to their door.

The fully grown native lobster, named ‘Larry’ by Head Chef Austin Hopley, was visibly unique compared to the more usual red lobster.

According to the University of Maine Lobster Institute, the brightly coloured mutation occurs in just one in two million lobsters.

The local gastro pub set out on a mission to save Larry by getting him rehoused or even re-released back into the cold waters north of Scotland.

Writing to their 4,000+ followers on Facebook on Tuesday (6 July), The Hare on the Hill said: “We’ve decided something so rare can’t be ending up in a lobster roll, so we have been phoning everyone from the SEA LIFE Centre to Blue Planet to get our Larry a new home. We’d love to see this incredibly rare creature delivered somewhere to be displayed or even released back to the sea.

“We’ve also had a crisis of conscience - we have decided Larry shouldn’t be the only lobster saved from a grizzly fate just because of his dreamy blue coat. So Austin and Lewi [chefs] are rewriting our entire menu so that no more lobsters are harmed in the making of our exceptional British small plates.”

In less than 24 hours, brightly coloured Larry the Lobster was met with an equally bright future when SEA LIFE Manchester came to the rescue.

He will now take residence at Barton Square in intu Trafford Centre.

 

 

In an update on Wednesday (7 July), The Hare on the Hill revealed: “Larry is alive and well and starting his new life as a neon blue dreamboat in his new forever home at SEA LIFE Manchester!

“After hours of hard work, we finally got through to just the right people to get the big blue boy to safety.

“Huge thanks to handsome Matt and the team at SEA LIFE for dropping everything to come rescue our colourful crustacean. But we really cannot stress enough the efforts of our incredible head chef Austin for not giving up, for phoning every number, knocking on every door, chasing every lead to ensure that our Larry can now be enjoyed by countless people till the end of his days.

“Sure, blue lobsters are rare, but people with hearts of gold are even rarer.”

Chef Austin said: "After realising the rarity of the lobster, I couldn’t bring myself to put him on the menu. After a little discussion, I knew the morally right thing to do was to find him a forever home where everybody could appreciate him.

"It puts into perspective the reality that most of us don’t actually understand and know where our produce comes from, and the impact we have on the environment as consumers.

"Every species deserves a fair chance at survival, we need to be more sustainable as the human race - and if that means ethically sourcing things in the future (even if its the luxury items that everyone desires), that’s how we should do it."