CHEF Paul Heathcote MBE is preparing to offload his last two restaurants in Preston.
After 20 years of successful trading, the chef has now decided to focus on other projects
Bolton-born Heathcote, who sold his former two-Michelin starred restaurant Longridge in Preston in 2012 after nearly 22 years at the helm, has listed Heathcotes Brasserie and the Olive Press with Christie & Co. for £250,000.
Having worked in kitchens of the Sharrow Bay Hotel, The Connaught in Mayfair and Raymond Blanc’s Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons, Heathcote opened Longridge in 1990 at the age of 29 and achieved his first Michelin star and The Good Food Guide’s ‘Restaurant of the Year’ within two years.
In 1995, Heathcote opened high-end Italian the Olive Press which went on to scoop a number of accolades including two AA rosettes and a Michelin Bib Gourmand, attracting a number of regulars including Rod Stewart and Norman Cook.
According to Christie, ‘after 20 years of successful trading, the chef has now decided to focus on other projects’, which includes his outside catering firm Heathcote & Co – caterers to Manchester International Festival.
The Olive PressHeathcote told The Caterer an offer last year made him reconsider his position:
"I will continue running the restaurant in the same way that we have done in the last 20 years until we find a purchaser for it. I'd obviously be delighted if it was sooner rather than later but this isn't something that I have suddenly just woken up and decided to do.
"I thought about it last year and we had an offer last year that we went some distance on and in the end it didn't work out and that made me think that I wish it had happened. The right decision is to put it up for sale."
For further information visit christie.com
