From his first job at 16, our judges’ choice was hooked on service – and he’s after seven years with Paul Ainsworth at No 6 in Padstow, he’s never stopped learning
When Chris McClurg landed in Cornwall from Belfast for a two-day trial at Paul Ainsworth’s No 6 restaurant in Padstow, Ainsworth picked him up from the airport. “He laughs about it now,” remembers McClurg. “He says: ‘I didn’t know whether I was picking up my new chef or the new front man for Babyshambles.’ I looked more like a rock star: long hair, leather, ripped denim and knackered boots. But I was leaving behind one world and entering into a new one, which was regimental, disciplined, structured. Paul told me: ‘Lots of people have talent. But lots of people aren’t surrounded by the right people who can harness that.’”
I love it. A busy service, slightly up against it, that’s when I know I’m alive
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