IN the space of just 12 months, Poole restaurateur and fisherman Pete Miles successfully launched his second restaurant and become a familiar face on ITV.

The Cruel Sea bar and kitchen in Penn Hill, is celebrating its first birthday this week with a special festival which runs until Friday, October 31.

There will be an array of new seafood tapas dishes to sample and a variety of local ales and unusual European lagers.

The bar even has its very own beer, Cruel Sea Bitter, brewed by Keystone Brewery in Tisbury to mark its first anniversary.

The week-long festival marks the end of a busy year which saw owner Pete, who also runs fish restaurant, Storm, finish filming the ITV series Harbour Lives with Ben Fogle, which aired this summer.

The TV presenter described the restaurateur/fisherman as an “amazing character”, adding: “He’s definitely what you’d call a modern fisherman, very entrepreneurial.”

Pete agreed it has been a remarkable year. He added: “We’ve had a great year with lots of wonderful feedback and the business is going from strength to strength.

“We are about to open our fishmonger’s shop from the rear of The Cruel Sea to the public during the mornings.”