At home with… Tom Kerridge

Michelin-starred top chef Tom Kerridge was born and raised in Gloucestershire and joined a culinary school when he was just 18, when he fell in love with the industry. He worked in a variety of country houses and hotels as a junior chef and eventually moved to London to work with Gary Rhodes and Steven Bull. Then in 2005 he and his wife Beth turned a rundown pub, the Hand & Flowers, into a Michelin-starred gastropub. He talks to Lynda Clark about his restaurant journey, his first home and gives some great advice for first time buyers

FTB: Tell us about your first step on the property ladder?

TK: My wife Beth and I bought a top floor flat in Crouch End, north London. I was 25 and we were both fed-up of renting and giving landlords our hard-earned cash. It was much easier to buy in those days. The flat cost £80,000 and we had to raise £4,000 each for the deposit, which was doable. It was a perfect time and we loved the area and stayed there for about 18 months. It was an unusual place and was in the eaves of a house and was basically an L-shaped studio. There was no carpet and we owned two sofas but we didn’t want to drag them all the way up to the flat until we could afford to buy some carpet. The floorboards were painted orange and so we stored the sofas with some friends and bought two inflatable chairs from Camden Market, which worked very well! We did quite a lot of work on the place and I built a fireplace and a glass wall to divide the bedroom off from the rest of the studio. Basically, we lived like squatters except we owned the place and eventually we managed to move to a bigger, one bedroom flat and moved up the ladder.

FTB: Tell us about the home you live in now

TK: We live in Marlow in a house which is about 16 years old. It’s our forever home and is on the river, which is idyllic. Its rather striking to look at, as it’s wooden and painted black and reminds me of a baddy’s home from a James Bond film! Beth is an artist and has a studio and a lovely gallery space there, and there’s a very workable kitchen which is important to me. We are both very happy there and it works well for both of us.

FTB: Tell us about your career?

TK: I learnt a great deal from top chefs Gary Rhodes, Steven Bull and Philip Britton and I eventually became head chef of Adlards, a Michelin-starred fine dining restaurant. Then in 2005 Beth and I decided to buy a rundown pub, The Hand & Flowers in Marlow. It’s a huge success and we have won two Michelin stars, making it the first gastropub to receive two stars in Michelin history. That led on to us opening its sister pub, The Coach, which is also in Marlow, and we won a Michelin star in 2018.We have also opened The Bull & Bear in Manchester, Kerridge’s Bar and Grill in London and The Butcher’s Tap & Grill in Marlow, which is a traditional butcher’s shop with a counter-to-grill menu that serves high-quality meat prepared by our expert butchers. As I love food, music, beer and great company I started my own food festival called Pub in the Park. The festival will travel to nine locations around the country, including Brighton and Wimbledon for the first time, and it’s absolutely the best fun ever!

“WE BOUGHT A VERY RUNDOWN PLACE IN CROUCH END AND RENOVATED IT, WHICH GAVE US EQUITY TO GROW AND MOVE ON TO A BIGGER AND BETTER PROPERTY”

FTB: You have written lots of books and often appear on TV. Can you tell us about that?

TK: The books that really stand out are Tom’s Table which was published in 2015 and was a great success, and following that I wrote Tom Kerridge’s Dopamine Diet which again soared to the top of the best seller charts. Then the hardback copy of Lose Weight for Good was the most successful January hardback since records began! I love doing TV and at the moment I am a judge on the Great British Menu which I actually won in 2010 and 2011. It’s always great fun filming and I have been doing television shows for about 13 years now. They are all very different and often a great learning curve, but food has been my life. I always wanted to be chef and enjoyed working in other people’s restaurants but when you are putting in 100 hours a week you might as well do it for yourself and I really enjoy and love every aspect of running the business.

FTB: What advice do you have for first time buyers?

TK: My advice would be to pretty much do what Beth and I did. We bought a very rundown place in Crouch End and renovated it, which gave us equity to grow and move on to a bigger and better property. If you manage to scrape together the deposit then I suggest you buy a wreck and do it up yourself. It may be that you have to stay up late at night and work weekends but it will definitely pay off and DIY can be good fun and is very satisfying. You may add £20,000 or £30,000 in value and that means when you come to move you will have so much more choice.

To book Pub in the Park tickets go to: pubintheparkuk.com

“THE HAND & FLOWERS IN MARLOW IS A HUGE SUCCESS AND WE HAVE WON TWO MICHELIN STARS, MAKING IT THE FIRST GASTROPUB TO RECEIVE TWO STARS IN MICHELIN HISTORY”