The chef patron has decided to reduce his hours to spend more time with his family
The celebrated North West chef and joint managing director of the Northcote Leisure Group, has announced he will be taking on a more ‘weekly’ role with the company due to the ill health of his wife, Kath.
Haworth and business partner Craig Bancroft co-founded Northcote Manor, the 26-bedroom country house hotel and restaurant in Lancashire, which has managed to retain its Michelin star every year since 1996.
As well as the hotel and cookery school in Langho in the Ribble Valley, the group also run Cafe Northcote in the Cathedral Square, Blackburn, five Ribble Valley Inns across the North West and Northcote At The Rovers in Ewood Park football stadium employing a total of 320 people.
As ambassador, consultant and shareholder, Haworth will be contracted to work 50 days per year at Northcote Manor, which is run by executive head chef Lisa Goodwin-Allen. The 59-year-old chef will also continue to take responsibility for running Obsession, the annual gastronomic event he established in 1999, in which celebrated chefs from around the world take over Northcote’s kitchen to cook their own guest menus over consecutive nights.
Nigel Haworth is one of the region's most celebrated chefs, having been the recipient of numerous awards and accolades over the past three decades. He has been pivotal in championing traditional Northern dishes and local producers, bringing them to a wider audience. In 2009, his main course of Lancashire hot pot and pickled red cabbage wowed the judges of BBC2’s Great British Menu, and was served at a banquet to celebrate the 70th anniversary of D-Day.
Northcote will continue its development with managing director and wine expert Craig Bancroft who told The Caterer:
“We will continue to create an award-winning property that wholeheartedly wants to continue to deliver excellence to all its regular and loyal clientele. Our ambitions are as clear as ever, the development of a strong focused team to achieve even more than Nigel and I have. It will be a delight for me to steer the future of Northcote and the team who make all this possible”
