Aiden Byrne (born 1972) is an English chef, best known as the owner of a number of establishments including The Collingwood, a bar and restaurant in

West Kirby West Kirby is a resort town on the north-west corner of the Wirral Peninsula in Merseyside, England, at the mouth of the River Dee, Wales, River Dee. Within the boundaries of the Historic counties of England, historic county of Cheshire, to th ...

Career

Byrne is best known for opening The Collingwood pub in

a number of years ago. He owns The Church Green in

Lymm Lymm is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Warrington, Cheshire, England, which incorporates the hamlets of Booths Hill, Broomedge, Church Green, Deansgreen, Heatley, Heatley Heath, Little Heatley, Oughtrington, Reddish, Rushgreen and ...

, Cheshire. He also runs the British Grill in the Macdonald Hotel at Craxton Wood, near

Chester Chester is a cathedral city and the county town of Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Dee, close to the English–Welsh border. With a population of 79,645 in 2011,"2011 Census results: People and Population Profile: Chester Loca ...

. In 2002, he earned a Michelin star for his cooking in The Commons Restaurant in Dublin, Ireland. Before this position he worked at Roscoff Restaurant under

Paul Rankin Paul Rankin (born 1 October 1959 in Glasgow, Scotland) is a celebrity chef from Ballywalter, County Down, Northern Ireland. Rankin's parents moved back to Ballywalter, where he grew up, some time after he was born. This was stated when he was t ...

and Peacock Alley under Conrad Gallagher, formerly head chef of the Grill Room at the Dorchester Hotel in London, but left in January 2009 to run his own pub in Cheshire. At Adlards in

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...

, by age 22, Byrne was the youngest chef to win a Michelin star. He worked at a number of Michelin-starred establishments. At

Danesfield House Danesfield House in Medmenham, near Marlow, Buckinghamshire, England, in the Chiltern Hills is a former country house now used as a hotel and spa. The house stands on a plateau which shelves steeply down to the River Thames to the south. History ...

and Spa, near

Marlow, Buckinghamshire Marlow (; historically Great Marlow or Chipping Marlow) is a town and civil parish within the Unitary Authority of Buckinghamshire, England. It is located on the River Thames, south-southwest of High Wycombe, west-northwest of Maidenhead and ...

, he was Executive Chef of the Oak Room and The Orangery Restaurants. Before this, he spent two years as Head Chef of the Michelin-starred restaurant

Tom Aikens Tom Aikens (born 1970), also named Tom Aitkens, is an English Michelin-starred chef. Aikens briefly worked for chefs in London and Paris restaurants. Under his tenure from 1996 to 1999 as head chef and then chef patron, Pied à Terre earned it ...

. Byrne previously worked with

at the Pied à Terre restaurant as a

sous chef A sous-chef is a chef A chef is a trained professional cook and tradesman who is proficient in all aspects of food preparation, often focusing on a particular cuisine. The word "chef" is derived from the term ''chef de cuisine'' (), the ...

. He appeared on the television programme ''

MasterChef ''MasterChef'' is a competitive cooking show television format created by Franc Roddam, which originated with the UK version in July 1990. The format was revived and updated for the BBC in February 2005 by executive producers Roddam and John ...

'' in 2008. His first book, ''Made in Great Britain'', was released in September 2008, along with a video podcast series of the same name based on the book, produced by pod3.tv. In 2013/14, Byrne opened a new restaurant in the city of

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

called Manchester House, which cost around £3 million to create. Byrne's journey to opening this restaurant was featured in a three-part series for

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...

called ''Restaurant Wars: The Battle for Manchester'' which was aired on the channel throughout April 2014. The other restaurant featured in the series was The French, opened by Simon Rogan around the same time as ManchesterHouse.

Personal life

Byrne married his wife Sarah in 2013 in

Mauritius Mauritius ( ; french: Maurice, link=no ; mfe, label=Mauritian Creole, Moris ), officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about off the southeast coast of the African continent, east of Madagascar. It incl ...

. The couple have three children.

Charity

Each year Byrne elects a charity for his restaurants to support. In 2013, the charity was Brainwave. One event which he held for this charity was gourmet evening which raised £4,380 for this cause. He has previously supported the 'Movember' appeal as well as

The Prince's Trust The Prince's Trust ( cy, Ymddiriedolaeth y Tywysog) is a charity in the United Kingdom founded in 1976 by King Charles III (then Prince of Wales) to help vulnerable young people get their lives on track. It supports 11-to-30-year-olds who are u ...

charity.

References

External links

Official websiteOfficial Twitter"Aiden's Made in Great Britain" video podcast series
{{DEFAULTSORT:Byrne, Aiden Living people Place of birth missing (living people) English chefs English restaurateurs People from West Kirby Head chefs of Michelin starred restaurants 1972 births Businesspeople from Merseyside