Pride of Britain's Chef of the Year

Gareth’s deer leaps to culinary success.

A dish of poached fillet of roe deer with caramelised cauliflower has helped North Wales chef Gareth Jones win a national Chef of the Year contest.

Gareth, head chef at historic Bodysgallen Hall near Llandudno, took the title last week in the final cook-off against two other top chefs from hotels within the Pride of Britain Hotels consortium.

The three chefs (the other finalists were Kevin Broome from The Torridon in the Scottish Highlands, and John Schwarz from Judges Country House Hotel near Yarm, in North Yorkshire) had to create a main-course dish to partner a fine Barbera d’Alba from the Ceretto vineyard in northern Italy. The finalists were selected from a large number of entries from member hotels nationwide.

The cook-off took place at The Spread Eagle Hotel in Midhurst, West Sussex, with Gareth named the best by a tasting panel consisting of the head chef of Historic Sussex Hotels, and representatives of Bibendum wine merchants and the Ceretto Winery. His prize was a trip for two to Piedmont in Italy as guests of Ceretto.

Diners at Bodysgallen Hall will be able to taste the new Pride of Britain Chef of the Year’s venison at the hotel later this month. A three-course lunch in the restaurant costs £22.50 and dinner is £39.

Gareth has been head chef at Bodysgallen for two years. He previously worked as sous chef under the Michelin-starred Simon Radley at The Chester Grosvenor – also a member of the Pride of Britain collection.

Cycling for charity - again

Michael Croft, Liam Parr, Craig Beasant and Michele Mella from Calcot Manor Hotel & Spa managed to cycle all the way (108 miles) to Bailiffscourt Hotel in West Sussex to raise money for Hospitality Action, our industry's benevolent organisation.

Picture shows the quartet being welcomed by Bailiffscourt General Manager, Chris Alger who treated them to a fine dinner and much needed beds. The ride took 9 hours.

So far the Calcot team has raised £10,500 and they encourage other Pride of Britain hotels to follow their fine example.

Calling all antique collectors

Do you fancy a luxury hotel break specially tailored to antique appreciation?

Nicholas Merchant and Aspect Events have produced a great programme of "short breaks for collectors" for 2009 and 2010. Parties are limited to no more than 20 and usually include an interesting talk on different aspects of antique collecting or a visit to a place of particular interest nearby. Many of these events are at Pride of Britain member hotels.

For all the details please see http://www.aspectevents.co.uk/

Bowood joins Pride of Britain

A brand new luxury hotel in the grounds of the Bowood estate near Calne in Wiltshire, the property of The Marquis of Lansdowne, has become the latest member of Pride of Britain Hotels.

Surrounded by the superb Bowood golf course and with its own state of the art spa, the hotel has 37 very comfortable rooms and 6 suites.

Bowood will very soon be featured on the Pride of Britain web site but in the meantime please see http://www.bowood.org/ for rates and further information or telephone 01249 822228

New London member hotel

We are delighted to announce that The Arch in Great Cumberland Place has become the latest luxury London hotel to join Pride of Britain. The owners and management of this exciting new property are well known to Pride of Britain and we look forward to working with them.

The Arch is a five-star luxury boutique hotel scheduled to open in late 2009. Formerly called Bryanston Court, six Georgian town houses in Great Cumberland Place, near the glamourous Marble Arch in Central London, are being converted into 82 sumptuous bedrooms and suites with an unashamedly contemporary style, restaurant and bar, lounge, gym and a meeting room.

Watch this space for more news on The Arch in the coming months.

Pride of Britain wins Marketing Award

On June 24th, Pride of Britain Hotels were presented with the 2009 Marketing Award from the British Hospitality Association (BHA) by mayor of London, Boris Johnson (picture shows Pride of Britain's chairman, Beppo Buchanan-Smith and Chief Executive Peter Hancock flanking Mr Johnson).

BHA Chief Executive Bob Cotton OBE commented that Pride of Britain was doing a great job in marketing and sales for quality hotels in Britain at a challenging time. The award was presented at the BHA's annual lunch, attended by 650 hotel and catering industry professionals.

Charity cycle rides for Hospitality Action

Four tough, brave and generous members of the Goring team cycled all the way from central London to the Dormy House Hotel in Worcestershire to raise funds for one of our industry's leading charities, Hospitality Action.

This was the first of many such sponsored rides, the next being from Calcot Manor in Gloucestershire to Bailiffscourt Hotel in Sussex on September 8th (all are Pride of Britain members).

Credit for the whole idea goes to Michele Mella, Restaurant Manager at Calcot Manor and an increasingly fit cyclist himself!