Chefs get behind British Pub Week
Peter Bayless, Masterchef champion in 2006, and fellow TV chef Tom Bridge, have donated copies of their latest books to the event, which launched at the Black Dog pub in Vauxhall, south London, on 20 September.
The launch was also attended by renowned chefs Felice Tocchini and Will Torrent, along with top industry professionals, key figures from across the hospitality sector, and members of the national press.
Bayless said: “I sincerely believe the pub is the future of eating out in this country. We are finally seeing this come to fruition thanks to people like Marco Pierre White.
“Pubs cannot carry on being boozers — they physically cannot exist without selling food. They have to go back to what they were 200 years ago if they are going to survive — this does seem to be happening, and as such I am very optimistic about the future of the pub.”
Bayless has donated six copies of My Father Could Only Boil Cornflakes to British Pub Week and will host a pop-up restaurant at his home in Lewes as part of the East Sussex town’s OctoberFeast beer festival, from 30 September to 7 October.
Bridge, who will be touring Wales during British Pub Week with a number of other chefs promoting his latest book Pie Society, added: “British Pub Week is such a big event and we always do our best to support it. Some of the food outlets around the UK are
fantastic, especially independently-run pubs with a passion for local produce.”
It is not just chefs supporting British Pub Week. John Ellis, licensee of the Crown Inn, in Oakengates, Shropshire, is urging publicans to back the event.
“I am supporting British Pub Week because British pubs are part of the fabric of our country and they are being allowed by the Government to go to rack and ruin,” said Ellis.