Belfast boxer Anthony Cacace challenges WBA super-featherweight champion Jazza Dickens at Dublin’s 3Arena on March 14

Anthony Cacace believes there are striking parallels between himself and James ‘Jazza’ Dickens as he pursues a second world title.

The Belfast fighter (24-1) will meet the Liverpool boxer at Dublin’s 3Arena on 14th March, with the WBA world super-featherweight championship on the line—nearly two years since he defeated Joe Cordina to claim the IBF belt in Saudi Arabia.

Since that breakthrough moment, Cacace’s career has transformed dramatically. Victories over English fighters Josh Warrington and Leigh Wood have followed, and at 37, he harbours ambitions of cementing his legacy as one of Ireland’s finest boxers.

Much like ‘The Apache’, Dickens has found his greatest success in the latter stages of his career.

The 34-year-old southpaw (36-5) produced the performance of his life when he upset Russian 2020 Olympic gold medallist Albert Batyrgaziev in an interim world title clash in Istanbul last July, reports the Irish Mirror.

Following American Lamont Roach’s decision to move up a weight division in December, Dickens was promoted to full WBA champion.

Cacace reflected on their shared journeys: “There’s some similarities. Jazza’s another story of keep plugging away, and look what you can get,”.

“Jazza’s been battling away, he fought for a world title against Guillermo Rigondeaux all those years back, he’s had a couple of opportunities in between, but look, when he became successful, he was 34 years of age.

“It shows you life in this game humbles you, it gets you into positions, and when you’re in that position you realise that you can’t let it slip.”

The headline fight on a packed Queensberry card will mark only the second time Cacace has fought professionally in Dublin.

His first bout in the city took place over 13 years ago at the National Basketball Arena in Tallaght, which was only his fifth professional fight.

On that occasion, he defeated Mickey Coveney in the first round to secure the Boxing Union of Ireland Irish Super Featherweight title. Next month, he’ll be stepping into the 3Arena for the first time.

“I’ve never been in the 3Arena. I’ve heard about it and stuff,” Cacace revealed.

“I’ve heard the atmosphere is great. The way they have the set up in it is supposedly very, very good. I’m looking forward to it. I’m excited.”

Cacace was scheduled to face American Raymond Ford last August in Saudi Arabia, but had to pull out due to a back injury.

However, everything has gone smoothly since then, and he’s anticipating a tough fight with Dickens, who spent several years living and training in Ireland with Pete Taylor.

“I feel like I’m fighting another Irish dude to be honest with you,” Cacace added. “I see him, he’s putting up tweets now ‘up the flats’. He’s like an Irishman.

“He’s a southpaw, he’s small, he has a bit of the dog in him, he’s aggressive enough, so it could really be a cracker, or not too good and a clear win for me.”

In recent years, Cacace has transitioned from delivering takeaways to fighting on some of the world’s biggest stages, including Wembley Stadium, Belfast’s SSE Arena and Riyadh.

“It’s just things that are hard to comprehend,” he said, reflecting on how his life has transformed.

“I am sitting here in this position, before I didn’t know where I was getting the next penny from, I didn’t know what I was going to do, the future, there was no future.

“It’s just been a magical, magical time.”

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Parking companies also say there will be a new backlog as they take more people to court

Proposed changes to parking regulations risk urban areas becoming “gridlocked” and the court system being “overwhelmed”, an industry body has claimed. The British Parking Association (BPA), which represents parking operators, warned about the “unintended and avoidable consequences” of the Government’s planned code of practice for the sector in Britain.

A Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) consultation document on the proposals stated it is considering banning the addition of debt recovery fees to parking tickets. These fees – currently capped at £70 – are charged when parking operators use debt recovery agencies to attempt to collect money for unpaid tickets.

The consultation also sought views on the cap on parking tickets, which is currently £100 with a 40% discount if paid within 14 days. The BPA claimed banning debt recovery fees would result in car park operators taking more cases to court as that would be their “only option left” to pursue drivers for tickets that have not been paid.

It also expressed concern that an “insufficient” maximum limit on parking tickets would create a “parking free for all” as it would reduce the deterrent for drivers ignoring parking rules. BPA chief policy and engagement officer Alison Tooze said: “We fully support and welcome the Government’s code of practice.

“However, it is our responsibility to warn against unintended and avoidable problems. The Government code framework has good intentions. However, we face an operational reality where we could see ‘Carmageddon’ in towns and cities and the already struggling court system being completely overwhelmed.

“We absolutely do not want this to happen. The code is being developed with the goal of protecting decent drivers, vulnerable road users and communities, yet there is a real danger that it could have the opposite effect and bring unintentional chaos.

“We have seen high-profile examples of this across the country including in Bournemouth and Aberystwyth where they were completely gridlocked by unfair motorist behaviour. Nobody wants to see this on a bigger scale and these examples illustrate what does happen in reality when drivers are not concerned about the consequences of breaking the rules.”

But the RAC warned that the threat of debt recovery fees can make drivers pay “unfair” parking tickets they would otherwise challenge. The organisation’s head of policy, Simon Williams, said: “We don’t support the use of debt recovery companies by the private parking industry and we hope to see it tackled in the Government code of practice when it comes into force.

“A £100 parking charge notice is bad enough but if this isn’t paid in 28 days it automatically gets increased by £70 when a debt recovery letter lands on the doormat. This seems disproportionate and could scare people into paying rather than appealing any unfair fines.”

Press Association analysis of Government data shows private parking companies issued a record 15.9 million parking tickets in the year to the end of September 2025. The industry has been accused of using misleading and confusing signs, aggressive debt collection and unreasonable fees.

A Bill to enable the introduction of a code of practice for the industry received royal assent in March 2019. This code, planned to come into force across Britain by the end of 2023, included halving the cap on tickets for most parking offences to £50, creating a fairer appeals system and banning the use of aggressive language on tickets.

But it was withdrawn by the Conservative government in June 2022 after a legal challenge by parking companies. A new consultation on the code by the current Labour Government closed in September last year.

A MHCLG spokesperson said: “Motorists must be protected when using private car parks and we are determined to drive up standards in the industry. No final decision has been made on the debt recovery fee cap and we will set out further details on the private parking code of practice as soon as possible.”

Anthony Trueman’s (Nicholas Bailey) funeral brought on a slew of shocks in EastEnders, namely the return (and arrest) of Anthony’s daughter and killer, Jasmine Fisher (Indeyarna Donaldson-Holness).

Another twist saw the return of Howie Danes (Delroy Atkinson), months after his relationship with Kim Fox (Tameka Empson) was decimated by the reveal that he’d turned to stealing as a means to keep Kim in the life she’d become accustomed to, and pocketed cash stolen from Patrick Trueman (Rudolph Walker).

Wounded by a comment from Kim that her former husband, Vincent Hubbard (Richard Blackwood), was a superior provider, Howie buried his guilt after reclaiming the money stolen from Patrick by Oscar Branning (Pierre Counihan-Moullier), keeping his mouth shut and keeping the dosh for himself.

He later picked up a second job in parcel delivery alongside his work as a postman, but upon discovering just how valuable some of the items he was transporting were, he was unable to resist helping himself to fund his family.

When Anthony discovered that the ring Howie’d used to propose to Kim was stolen from Penny Branning (Kitty Castledine), Howie did some digging of his own. Discovering that Anthony’s wife had filed a restraining order against him, they formed an incredibly uneasy truce, both agreeing to keep the others secret.

But this is Soapland, right? And secrets are legally prohibited from remaining so for too long, and when a concerned Howie confided in Kim about Anthony’s recent dark behaviour, the engagement party quickly exploded as everyone’s tea was spilled.

Kim wasted little time in ending the engagement, banishing Howie from the house and the family while declaring their relationship officially dead.

So while things were understandably tense when he returned to offer his support to the Trueman clan last week, Kim finds herself leaning on Howie for support next week, as Patrick’s reliance on an AI recreation of his deceased son increases and her attempts to get through to him fail.

Upon seeing a struggling Kim in the Vic, Howie decides to intervene and talks to Patrick himself.

Patrick, however, has some advice of his own and tells Howie to plough all of his efforts into winning Kim back.

Patrick rallies his family together to go for a midday drink, and Kim’s jaw hits the floor when Howie emerges and begins serenading her, flanked by two drag queens to complete the performance.

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Will the power of song (and drag) convince Kim to give things another go with Howie? Or will his performance close the curtain on their relationship for good?

MORE: From the scandalous to unbelievable – 17 soap romances that had us cringing

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“I hate how I feel when I lose control a little bit.”

Dr Michael Mosley, an intermittent fasting pioneer, died while on a walk on the Greek island of Symi in 2024, with his body being discovered four days after he went missing

Dr Michael Mosley’s son says he is left “surprised” by the comments he receives about his father. Michael died on the Greek island of Symi after going missing while on a walk in June 2024.

The 67-year-old was found after just over two miles away from the private resort he was staying at with his wife Dr Clare Bailey Mosley. He had been missing for four days at the time.

Michael was known to many for his pioneering work on the 5:2 diet, which promoted intermittent fasting. It led him to TV appearances on the likes of The One Show, Horizon, and Trust Me, I’m a Doctor.

Now his son, Dr Jack Mosley, has revealed that people regularly approach him in the street to discuss his father’s work. It comes as Jack says his father’s work helped “tens of thousands of people” lose weight.

Michael, and the work he did with Clare, even led to Jack becoming a GP himself. He has now taken the lead of the Fast800 from his father.

He said: “He’s had a really big impact on me, they both have really, and they were part of my inspiration to become a doctor, because it was something they were so passionate about and I could see how many tens of thousands of people they had helped with their passion for improving the nation’s metabolic health.

“People tell me all the time how much of a difference my dad has made to their lives and really it has dramatically improved their health. In a way it’s almost surprising at times when people say, ‘I’ve lost X amount of weight’.”

Jack is leading The Fast 800 Online Programme which he says is a “lifestyle programme” that builds on his father’s work. It offers three types of meal plan, the “Very Fast 800” which uses an 800-calorie plan to lose weight over 12 weeks, the 5:2 intermittent fasting plan, and a long-term Mediterranean diet plan.

It also offers exercise guidance through workout plans, using both high-intensity interval training and resistance exercises as well as educational content that covers the science behind weight loss.

Jack added: “The plan was based on a study that found that 800 calories a day for 12 weeks, this rapid weight loss, can reverse their diabetes, which was not thought possible before and if they kept 10kg of weight off, they could keep their diabetes in remission.

“It progressed from there to be this overall lifestyle support system for people who want to have this rapid weight loss and improve their metabolic health but also, there’s people who want to do it more gradually by fasting, like the 5:2, which my dad famously popularised.

“It’s also there to help people with other aspects that we know are so important in your health like exercise, including aerobic, and also mindfulness. It’s this real complete support system and helps provide people with a group of people to do it with who are on the same page.”

The few remaining residents are determined to stay until they die.

Were it not for the steam billowing like mist from fissures in the ground, motorists could easily drive through this formerly prosperous settlement without realising they’d entered and exited it.

Centralia in Pennsylvania is an unsettling spectacle. Wilderness is gradually reclaiming what was once inhabited land — nearly all residents departed years ago, whilst the few who remain are determined to stay until they die.

This abandoned settlement hides an underground inferno that has raged for decades and is predicted to continue burning for centuries to come. Previously a thriving mining community, Centralia was inhabited by thousands.

Its coal mines opened in 1856, providing livelihoods for local families. During its peak in 1890, Centralia’s population reached 2,761, and the settlement boasted numerous churches, hotels and drinking establishments, alongside theatres, a bank and a post office.

Yet everything started shifting during the 1960s as mining operations dwindled and the town’s fortunes declined, reports the Express.

The precise origins of the subterranean blaze remain unclear. Some theorise it ignited when local authorities commissioned the volunteer fire service to eliminate rubbish from the municipal landfill, situated in a disused strip mine.

The firefighters torched the refuse and allowed it to burn, but the flames never extinguished. An unprotected opening enabled the fire to penetrate the maze of antiquated tunnels running beneath the settlement.

An alternative theory proposes the fire started when a waste collector deposited smouldering coals into the exposed rubbish pit adjacent to the mine. Regardless of its origins, the blaze established itself beneath the surface and continued to spread.

Plumes of smoke started seeping upwards through the earth as firefighters struggled to quench the flames. At first, they believed they’d been successful, but unknown to them, the inferno had extended far beyond anyone’s expectations.

For years, residents viewed the fire as a troublesome but controllable problem. A persistent reek of sulphur and smoke permeated the atmosphere, forcing some inhabitants to abandon their properties due to the poisonous fumes in the late 1960s.

A decade on in 1979, the situation reached a critical juncture. Mayor John Coddington, who also operated a petrol station, made a shocking discovery during a standard inspection — the fuel in his underground storage tanks had reached an alarmingly high temperature of 77.8C.

Two years afterwards, 12-year-old Todd Domboski narrowly avoided disaster when a sinkhole abruptly tore his back garden apart. He plunged into the 150-foot chasm and only survived by grabbing hold of a tree root.

The cavity released lethal concentrations of carbon monoxide into the atmosphere.

Despite clear indications that Centralia was becoming hazardous, locals remained divided over whether the town remained habitable. By 1983, authorities had earmarked over $42 million for relocation initiatives, with nearly all residents accepting the compensation.

Over 1,000 residents relocated and 500 structures were razed to the ground. Census data reveals that by 1990, a mere 63 inhabitants remained.

Fast forward two years, and the entire town was condemned, with only five homes left standing by 2010.

Despite the relentless flames raging beneath their homes, the remaining residents were adamant about not leaving. They contested a court order mandating their departure but remained defiant.

Eventually, in 2013, a settlement was reached allowing the last seven residents to remain in Centralia until their demise, after which their properties would be seized.

Currently, the fire has ravaged an area spanning over 13km. If it continues to burn at its present pace, it could persist for another 250 years or more.

Nowadays, Centralia is largely deserted, with nature reclaiming the streets once teeming with life. The only remnants of the former town are an old church and a highway winding through the verdant landscape.

Warning signs about toxic gases, unstable terrain, and fires are scattered across the area.

The only vestige of this once-thriving town is the steam that billows from the earth’s cracks when rain seeps into the ground, meeting the ever-waiting flames below.

One resident finds it ‘scary’ to drive along the roads, as they fear they will damage their car.

Locals have branded a Cambridgeshire town’s roads as a “disgrace”, describing its potholes as “craters”. Residents in Godmanchester are frustrated with the state of the roads in the town.

They are calling for better repairs, as people believe they are causing a danger to motorists. Kate Guerreiro said the roads are a “disgrace”: “It’s like a slalom trying to avoid them.”

Cambridgeshire County Council is responsible for maintaining roads in the county. A council spokesperson said ensuring safe travel is a “key priority” for the council.

Kate continued: “I dread having to drive at night or in the rain now because you can’t see them. Both my partner and I have had to have the tracking on our cars realigned and he’s had a blow out with his children in the car from hitting one.

”It’s scary to drive now because you just don’t know what the road conditions are and if it’s going to affect you. They are going to end up causing severe damage and I worry about bad accidents and harm to people.”

Michelle Carter is “disappointed” with the state of the roads. She added: “We have to put our cars in for MOTs and they have to be road worthy. But, the roads are not worthy for our cars to be on. It’s appalling and it’s dreadful.”

Last year, Michelle took her car in for a MOT and had to pay more than £400 to repair damage that she said had been caused by potholes. She said: “When I took my car in for its MOT, they said part of my wheel was cracked, and that it was down to hitting potholes.”

Roxana believes the roads are getting “worse and worse”. She added: “A few potholes here and there are understandable, and we are just out of winter so that is expected. But, it seems like they are getting deeper and deeper. It’s getting dangerous because you get people swerving the pothole and then avoiding other cars.”

Jo Edwards also thinks the potholes could cause a danger to drivers. She said: “The potholes not only cause damage to cars, but create potential accidents when cars have to drive around them to avoid hitting them. The council need to repair them as a matter of urgency. We pay road tax for using the roads and yet, they are not fit for purpose.”

The county council spokesperson added: “This year we’re investing £73 million in highways maintenance across the county, which is being used to repair roads, cycleways, footpaths and other highway assets. We are proposing to continue this level of investment in 2026/27.

“The 26/27 highways maintenance investment programme will be considered by the council’s Highways and Transport Committee in March 2026. Residents can help us keep our roads and footpaths safe for all users, by reporting the issues they find online via our website.”

Available for over a year

Woman’s Hour in collaboration with our SEND in the Spotlight podcast brings you a special programme on the impact of the government’s SEND reforms in England.

Whether you’re a parent, a young person, a teacher or someone who works in the wider system we find out what the changes mean for you – and help you decode the new language – whether it’s IB, ISP, Targeted, Targeted Plus, or SPP.

Nuala McGovern speaks to parents, teachers, charities, the School Standards Minister and the Children’s Commissioner for England. We also hear from SEND in the Spotlight podcast regulars – actors Anna Maxwell Martin and Kellie Bright.

Search for the SEND in the Spotlight podcast on BBC Sounds.

Contributors:
Georgia Gould MP, Schools Standards Minister
Marsha Martin, founder of Black SEN Mamas
Katie Ghose, CEO of Kids charity and Disabled Children’s Partnership
Margaret Mulholland, Association of School and College Leaders
Kate McGough, BBC Education reporter
Eleanor Wright, solicitor at SOS!SEN
Ramandeep Kaur, SEND parent
Carrie Grant, SEND parent and broadcaster
Katie Nellist, SEND ambassador
Louise Gittins, chair of the Local Government Association
Dame Rachel de Souza, Children’s Commissioner for England

Presenter: Nuala McGovern
Producer: Sarah Crawley, with Carolyn Atkinson
Digital producer: Olivia Bolton
Editor: Karen Dalziel

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Available for over a year

Today, Adam and Chris speak to the deputy prime minister David Lammy about his justice reforms.

He acknowledged the court backlog will continue to rise and may be at the same level as it is today at the next general election despite the government’s planned reforms.

He also said that Labour would be “out on their bums” if they haven’t delivered the change the public want by the time of the next election.

You can now listen to Newscast on a smart speaker. If you want to listen, just say “Ask BBC Sounds to play Newscast”. It works on most smart speakers.

You can join our Newscast online community here: https://bbc.in/newscastdiscord

Get in touch with Newscast by emailing newscast@bbc.co.uk or send us a WhatsApp on +44 0330 123 9480.

New episodes released every day. If you’re in the UK, for more News and Current Affairs podcasts from the BBC, listen on BBC Sounds: https://bbc.in/4guXgXd

Newscast brings you daily analysis of the latest political news stories from the BBC. The presenter was Adam Fleming. It was made by Anna Harris. The social producers were Joe Wilkinson and Jem Westgate. The technical producer was Ben Andrews. The assistant editor is Chris Gray. The senior news editor is Sam Bonham.

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Douglas Balish is now a celebrated chef at one of the UK’s top hotels

It’s important to never forget that one decision can completely change your whole life path and for award winning Scots chef Douglas Balish it came when he was getting his hands dirty in a sink full of used dishes. The then 20-year-old, originally from Troon but now based in Wales, studied psychology in university when he took up a kitchen porter job in an Ayrshire restaurant.

This was just the first step in his remarkable culinary career which has now seen him work in award winning restaurants across the world with just £2,000 in his pocket. Balish’s admirable work ethic and eagerness in his first role as a dishwasher meant that the restaurant’s staff were soon asking him to help out with other responsibilities and after buying his first cookbook at 20-years-old, that’s where his love for cooking began.

Fast forward twenty years, and the now 40-year-old is a celebrated executive chef at luxury country hotel Grove of Narberth in Pembrokeshire, Wales, where he was awarded the title of Hotel Chef of the Year at the 2025 Hotel Cateys, which is recognised as a huge honour in his industry. However, Balish’s humble nature still shines through as he insists that the award is a team effort by all the staff, Wales Online reports.

He says: “It goes to one person but that doesn’t really feel fair, one person can’t do everything, everyone’s got to be behind it and on board with it so from the kitchen and front of house one doesn’t work without the other.” However, going from being a young dishwasher to the chef of a high end hotel in the space of two decades has not just come as a stroke of luck for Douglas, who has been proactive in guiding the development of his career, including taking multiple risks to get to this award-winning level.

He says: “When I started out I was absolutely useless, but I enjoyed doing it, so after I’d done that for a few months I couldn’t see myself sitting in a classroom for the next four years, I don’t think it would have been for me, I could see myself getting bored or distracted.

“I think I’m probably the least qualified, education-wise, in the kitchen as I just went straight into a job. I worked in Scotland for a few years but then decided that if I was going to do this I need to do it properly, so I went off to Jersey to work in a Michelin star restaurant.”

This restaurant was called Bohemia, where he was employed for five years, working his way up from the very bottom level to sous chef before moving elsewhere to a lower standard eatery. However, his ambition was set on achieving something even more challenging which his seven years of experience had all been working towards.

There was one specific restaurant in the world that had inspired him ever since he was a young man but it was thousands of miles away.

However, that didn’t stop Balish as he picked up the phone and called Quay in Sydney, which is hailed as Australia’s most celebrated and influential restaurants, which boasted Three Hats in the Good Food Guide for 23 consecutive years.

He said: “It’s where I’ve always wanted to work, so I contacted the chef there and said ‘do you have any jobs’ and he said contact me if you’re ever in Australia, so I got straight on a plane, and knocked on their door as soon as I got there and started working there next day.

“It was a bit of a risk, I could have ended up having to work anywhere just to earn money, and Sydney is quite an expensive place to live so I had to get a job quickly, as I got there as I only had £2,000 in the bank.

“I thought that would last a while but the rent there was around 500 dollars per week, so I realised my savings weren’t going to last very long. Thankfully the risk paid off and it was amazing, I really, really enjoyed it.”

Douglas then received a call from Great Fosters in Surrey, where he was asked to run the restaurant and develop his ideas.

He was persuaded to come back to the UK and took another risk, going from being unknown to a Michelin star in just 18 months.

His rapid success did not got unnoticed in the industry and with it came the call from Neil Kedward, co-owner and co-founder of Grove of Narberth with wife Zoe, who asked if he would move to west Wales to spread his culinary magic.

He says: “I’d only been to Wales once before and that was Cardiff so at that time I didn’t realise what an amazing place it was, but the closer we got to Narberth, the more I saw, I thought Wales was incredible.

“We got through the gates of the hotel and it was March and all the daffodils were coming up and it looked incredible and I was, ‘ok then, we’re done’, it looked stunning.”

Stepping inside the once derelict country house into the hotel created by Neil and Zoe drew Douglas in.

He said: “It was homely, welcoming but luxury at the same time, and as soon as we walked through the front door it was like walking into somebody’s house, it was so special and that was it really from that moment on, we were seriously considering this move.

“We want people to come here and feel like they are in good hands, we want to make everything perfect for them, that they don’t want to go home, for it to be relaxing, away from stress. Yes, it’s a business, but at the end of the day the staff working here look after people, it’s what we want to do, what we’re here for.”

He added: “When I lived in Surrey for five years I had no idea who our next door neighbours were, but the day we moved in here the neighbours were all round, had made us a cawl, it was lovely. And we just love it here – the people, the area – it’s great. It’s an amazing place, it has it all, and the beaches are incredible.”

Since joining Grove of Narberth Douglas and his team have revolutionised the food and drink menus in the business to an award-winning level.

Their culinary offers have now won many accolades including the 2024/2025 Michelin Key and 4 AA Rosettes for dining and, of course, Hotel Chef of the Year 2025.

The hotel on the whole has won awards too. These include Tripadvisor’s 2024/2025 “Best of the Best”, placing it within the top 1% worldwide, Small Luxury Hotels of the World’s hotel of the year 2023/24, and Independent Hotel of the Year 2024 and there have been accolades for the venue’s staff too.

Douglas says the dining experience at the hotel has been developed over a period of years with the core of the construction of the menus always about using produce and ingredients from local suppliers and the result is a strong network of relationships.

He explains: “In the beginning it took me a while to find the suppliers and that was the hardest part, finding the people who could work with us and wanted to work with us for our special requirements, such as meat that’s aged for a certain amount of time, fish brought straight to us to be very fresh, vegetables with particular picking times. I’m quite demanding on what we get.

“This has taken a bit of time to get where it is now, but the ethos is what everything is built around, showcasing Pembrokeshire and Welsh ingredients, but doing it in a slightly different way to how it’s traditionally done in this part of the world by using our experience of working in other places and from our travels, using different cuisines to amplify the Welsh products, such as an Asian influence or using French techniques, things like that.

“The ingredients are from Wales and we try to highlight the suppliers that we’ve got because they are amazing, they are as good as anything else around the rest of the world. We want to build a relationship with people who have the same ethos, to be the best that we can be, but now we have amazing connections, we’re really lucky.”

Looking back, Douglas’ success story has given him valuable insight that he is keen to share with others in the hope of helping people in the industry.

Douglas’ personal experiences has led him to believe that anyone who wants to progress in the industry just needs to have a plan to learn.

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He explains: “Get yourself into a job that’s a good level, if you go to somewhere that’s really, really good and learn the proper ways to do things, you can drop that experience into any sector later. Say if you wanted to do a fast food truck, and I’m all for that, if you know the right way to do things in the first place – how to get the most flavour out of things, how to get the most taste out of great ingredients, all the health and safety aspects.

“Find somebody who wants to teach you, not every good place wants to nourish you and make you better, some places will just take from you and you’ll work, work, work and then you leave there thinking you’ve done the same thing for two years. You need someone who will take you under their wing and help you to learn.”

Douglas also says that experience at the start of your culinary career is more important than the salary.

He said: “The money comes later, don’t be chasing an extra two thousand pounds a year, survive on what you can and learn as much as you can, and that will help you for the future.

“There are places that pay over the average but everything comes in a packet, you don’t make anything, you don’t learn anything, reheating something, it puts a cap on your potential if that’s all you’re doing.

“By the time you know it you’re 25 and still don’t know anything and you’ve maxed out at the level that you are at, and you have to make a decision then, are you going to stay at that level or drop back down and be paid less and start learning again, and then you can choose what to do in the future once you have that knowledge.”

It’s an element of development that Grove of Narberth can offer too, as the hotel is part of The Seren Collection that includes Beach House, Oxwich, Lan Y Mor, Saundersfoot and Penmaenchaf, Dolgellau.

Douglas said it’s important to him that the company develop staff, saying that the other restaurants offer a chance to share staff, to develop their skills at the other sites away from Grove of Narberth.

But it’s not just the staff and the menus of fine dining that have been developed by Douglas and the team, but building a relationship with the community extends to young people in schools too.

Douglas says: “We have been doing a competition with primary school age children in Ceredigion where they can work with their teachers and do team work around food – where it comes from, packaging, how it’s grown- giving them an understanding, and then they do a three course meal.

“For us it was about getting to an earlier age group and plant some seeds about good food, how are we going to live more sustainably, what produce is healthy and that you can cook for yourself and feed yourself and family when you’re older.

“In 2026 we want to extend it into Pembrokeshire and Carmarthenshire and maybe into Cardiff and Swansea in 2027.”