What is your current role and what does it involve?
I am chef-patron of The Rum Fox. Being the owner as well as the chef means my role is very wide-ranging. I’ve got to run the business as well as the kitchen. In the kitchen I can be doing anything from cooking on sauce, larder section, running the pass, washing up, wherever I am needed really. Dishes on our menu change weekly so I am always working on new dishes and writing menus. I really enjoy talking to guests too, so I’ll help out front of house taking out food and clearing tables making sure everyone is enjoying their visit.
How long have you been a chef?
I started after finishing my A-levels, so it’s 20 years now.
How did you first get into cooking?
Like a lot of chefs I had a part-time job washing up when I was 16 and ended up getting involved more with kitchen prep, then started to help out on different sections. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go to university so decided to give it a go a for year. I really enjoyed it and decided to stick with it.
Where did you learn your craft?
I didn’t go to catering college, I decided to just learn on the job. My first proper job was at The Sparrowhawk in Fence. It was a very busy place at the time so I had to learn very quickly. The owners had other places in Cheshire so I worked down there for a couple of years. Once I had the basics mastered, I wanted to learn more so I went to a one Michelin star place in Derbyshire called Fischers Baslow Hall. After that, I went to Australia to work in Melbourne, where I was at Vue de Monde, which was the best restaurant in Australia at the time and in the top 100 in the world. When I came home I took a head chef job at the Duke of York in Grindleton which is opposite The Rum Fox. when I was quite young so a lot of how I learnt from then on was self-taught.
What was your first job in hospitality?
Washing up at a local pub when I was 16.
What is your signature dish?
I wouldn’t say there’s one signature dish but there are some that we can’t take off the menu at The Rum Fox, like our Lancashire cheese soufflé, ox cheek suet pudding with crinkle cut chips, and the millionaire shortbread with Downham honey ice cream. Our menus change all the time, with the seasons, so in winter we’ll use lots of venison and game from local shoots, we get our lamb from the village and use Eaves Hall Farm for pork and lamb – I love cooking with all those. The BBQ lobster tail with ravioli and lobster sauce was also very popular last summer, so I’ll be looking forward to putting that on again in the next couple of months.
What’s been your worst cooking disaster?
When I was working in Derbyshire I was living in the flat above the pub. I woke up one morning to a smell of burning and quickly realised I’d left the stock pot on full overnight. I ran downstairs to a kitchen full of smoke, took the stock pot off and, while half asleep, managed to catch the top of my leg on it which left a nasty burn.
What are your culinary ambitions?
My ambition since starting out as a chef was always to have my own pub. Now that I’ve achieved that with The Rum Fox, I now want to make sure that everyone who visits us leaves happy. I want to build on the great start that we’ve had over the past two years and simply want to make a success of the business. We’d like to add some bedrooms to the pub too. When we have guests who have travelled from further afield, they often ask about rooms and places to stay.
What do you like to eat?
I like all types of food and cuisines. On Mondays, when the pub is closed, we tend to take the dogs out for a walk then have a pub lunch somewhere. I really like Indian food so we tend to go for a curry at Shajan (just outside Blackburn) on a Tuesday night. After a busy Saturday night we like to have a pizza from Marleys in Clitheroe, which does the best pizza around.
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How do you achieve a work/life balance?
It’s very hard with being such a new business and being the owner and chef. We are closed Monday and Tuesdays so Mondays I try not to do anything work-related but always have an hour in the morning sorting out after the weekend and catching up on emails. Tuesdays, I’m back in the kitchen, prepping to open for Wednesday. Monday and Tuesday nights, I have off. My partner Kiaja is front of house manager which means we work together and live above the pub, so it does make it easier to see her and her two boys. For the rest of the team, we make sure they don’t work more than 45 hours a week. We stop serving at 4.30pm on Sunday so they all get Sunday night, Monday and Tuesday off.
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The Rum Fox, Sawley Road, Grindleton, Lancashire, BB7 4QS
Tel: 01200 871691
www.therumfox.com
Open for lunch Wednesday 12noon – Saturday 2pm
Open for dinner Wednesday – Saturday 5.30pm – 8.00pm (8.30pm Fri & Sat)
Sunday lunch 12pm – 4.30pm
Pub is open from 12pm Wednesday – Sunday
Bank Holiday Mondays – Lunch only from 12pm -4pm
The Rum Fox opened in March 2023, following extensive renovations to the former Buck Inn. A large extension has made room for the stylish restaurant and terraced courtyard, which has a moveable roof for al fresco dining when the weather is fine. Located in Lancashire’s pretty Ribble Valley, surrounded by rolling hills, The Rum Fox has already built a strong reputation for culinary excellence; offering the best produce that every season has to offer. Since opening, The Rum Fox has been included in the Good Food Guide 2024, named ‘One to Wach’ finalist in Top 50 Gastropubs 2025 and was named New Tourism Business of the year at the Lancashire Tourism Awards, in February 2024.
The Rum Fox is a Visit Lancashire Partner. Visit Lancashire, through their Taste Lancashire campaigns and activities, showcase Lancashire’s leading food and drink providers and producers, locally, nationally and internationally. For more information go to www.visitlancashire.com/Taste
The Rum Fox cheese soufflé
Makes 16
300 ml milk
Quarter of an onion
Half a head of garlic
2 bay leaves
3 cloves
Warm in a pan to infuse the milk
30 g butter
40 g flour
Melt butter and add the flour to make a roux. Add the infused milk slowly to create a thick sauce
250 g of Lancashire cheese
12 eggs separated
Add the cheese to sauce and cook until melted in. Take off the heat and add the egg yolks
Whip the egg whites to soft peaks and fold into the cheese mix.
Pour into the greased moulds and bake in a Bain Marie for 10 minutes at 180 degrees
Chill and de-mould
Place in baking dish with cheese and cream and bake until golden brown. Finish with finely grated parmesan, chives and apple or onion chutney
