Pubs serve almost a billion meals a year, with more and more pubs recognising that great food will attract more customers. To recognise the role that food now plays in pubs the British Beer & Pub Association and the All-Party Parliamentary Beer Group launched the first Parliamentary Pub Chef and Young Pub Chef of the Year award, in partnership with Nestlé Professional. The prestigious new award sought nominations from Members of Parliament to recognise a pub chef, or chefs, in their constituency who is renowned for their great food. We were amazed at the response, we received over 120 nominations from more than 100 MPs from all corners of the country.
To find our winning chefs we will hold a “cook-off” event for our panel of expert judges at a London pub in January. The list of nominees was whittled down to a final shortlist of eight chefs who will compete for the titles on offer. We asked them, "what would winning mean to you?" - here is what they had to say:
Name: Michele Cremona (The Candlemakers, Battersea)
Nominated by: Jane Ellison MP
“To participate in or even more so to win would mean being a part of something that will be a great boost to an industry that is having a challenging time, as well as being intrinsic to putting the pub chef in the culinary spotlight.”
Name: Milan Hukal (The Dog Inn, Grundisburgh)
Nominated by: Daniel Poulter MP
“It will mean a lot to me. It would be milestone achievement for me and my cooking and make me push myself even harder to produce best looking and tasting dishes I possibly can.”
Name: John Calton (Staith House, North Shields)
Nominated by: Alan Campbell MP
“It would be an extremely prestigious accolade to collect, from a personal point of view it would be fantastic to have it on my CV. From the business point of view it would be great PR to give us a boost in the New Year!”
Name: Gordon Jones (The Brit Pub, Port Talbot)
Nominated by: Stephen Kinnock MP
“It would be a great surprise and a proud moment, as it has appeared out of the blue! It would be terrific for The Brit and everyone involved. It would mean that the hard work put in wouldn’t have gone unnoticed.”
Name: Gordon Stott (The Sun Inn, Dummer)
Nominated by: Kit Malthouse MP
“It would mean the world to not just to me but to the whole team, there was an amazing buzz in the pub when we were announced the finalist but to actually win it would be fantastic.”
Name: Robert Yuill (The D’Arcy Thompson, Dundee)
Nominated by: Chris Law MP
“Winning the competition would prove that all the hard work, long hours, and determination, that all chefs put themselves through can be rewarded. It would also make my 7 year old son extremely proud.”
Name: Edward Hackland (The Waggon, Halam)
Nominated by: Mark Spencer MP
“Winning the competition would mean a lot to me, cooking is a real pleasure and to know that others are really enjoying and liking what I do would mean the world to me. It would mean that all the hard work I have put in is really paying off.”
Name: Matt Long (The Raglan Arms, Llandenny)
Nominated by: David Davies MP
“It will mean that what I am striving to achieve in the way of a very high standard and quality of food served in a rural pub is recognised. The small rural village of Llandenny and the Raglan Arms will be put on the culinary map ensuring it continues to serve the local community and support local growers and suppliers.”