Possibly the least shy chef in Yorkshire, Tim Bilton of the Butcher’s Arms, Hepworth, was up on stage again this week carrying off his award for ‘Best Gastropub’ in Yorkshire and the north east.
The last time I saw him collecting trophies was at the Queen’s Hotel in Leeds for the 2009 Yorkshire Life food awards where he and his brigade should have walked off with rowdiest table award as well as Best Dining Pub. That night, he also bid in the auction for lunch with Jay Rayner, nervelessly driving the bidding up past the £1,000 mark, finally losing out to Mitch Mitchell who makes real stocks and gravies for his company Truefoods. I’m assured he was as sober as the judges.
This latest gong comes from the Great British Pub Awards, run by the industry’s trade paper the Morning Advertiser. It’s only two years since TB packed up his knives at Bibi’s, Leeds to take on his own place in the Pennines and he’s been a busy chap since then, starring in BBC2’s Great British Menu, writing a book, and buying up the Kaye Arms in Wakefield.