452. Events, Dear Boy, Events. 2025. Part 1. January To June.

 

See also Blogs 400 and 416.

8 January 2025 - The Michelin Guide adds 4 West Midlands restaurants in its January listings including two in Birmingham - Baloci in Edgbaston (see Blog 372), Satori in Moseley (at the previous location of Carter’s of Moseley) (see Blog 455), Horse and Groom in Bourton on the Hill and Hem in Warwick.

8 January - The Good Fod Guide announces that it has shortlisted 4 West Midlands restaurants in its 2025 awards - Opheem for Restaurant of the Year, Albatross Death Cult and Native in Tenbury Wells for Best New Restaurant and Grace And Savour for Most Beautiful Restaurant.

21 January - After 50 years in the restaurant business Andreas Antona announces his retirement and puts Simpsons up for sale for £850000.

26 January - The Good Food Guide adds The Old Wharf Inn in Stourbridge to the Guide. Rated “Good”.

30 January - The Birmingham Post publishes a full page article on Andreas Antona’s intention to sell Simpson’s.

10 February - The Michelin Awards ceremony takes place in Glasgow and Birmingham loses a star - Purnell’s, because of its closure. However Ash Valenzuela-Heeger is awarded the Young Chef Award and her restaurant, Riverine Rabbit in Stirchley, joins Tropea in Harborne as the first Birmingham restaurants to receive Bib Gourmand awards since 2010 (Pascal’s  held a Bib Gourmand from 2008-10). There are no new Michelin stars awarded throughout the West Midlands region but Horse and Groom at Bourton on the Hill is also awarded a Bib Gourmand. Ivan Tisdall- Downes’ Native at Tenbury Wells and James Sherwin’s Wild Shropshire in Whitchurch are both awarded Green Michelin stars. After the ceremony there are now 75 West Midlands restaurants included in the Michelin Guide.

4 March - David Taylor, Chef Director at Grace and Savour in Hampton in Arden is eliminated in the first day’s competition of the Central and East region heats of BBC’s Great British Menu, now in its 20th year. Thom Bateman, Chef Proprietor of The Flintlock in Cheddleton, Staffordshire, wins through to the second day of the heat.

5 March - Ivan Tisdall-Downes resigns as Executive Chef at Native in Tenbury Wells, just 3 weeks after winning a Green Michelin star for the restaurant, as reported by Thr Caterer.

5 March - Chef Owner Thom Bateman of The Flintlock in Cheddleton is eliminated from the Central,Heats of the Great British Menu broadcast on this day. No West Midlands chefs are therefore left in the 2025 competition.

6 March - The Birmingham Post publishes a report about the dire state of businesses in Stratford-upon-Avon and in particular, hospitality businesses. Among the closures is Sorrento, a much loved family run Italian restaurant which has been part of the town’s dining scene for many years.

7 March - Owners of Native in Tenbury Wells confirm that the restaurant has closed permanently following the resignation of Chef Director Ivan Tisdall-Downes and the failure of an extractor system which is too costly to repair.

7 March - The Guardian publishes a less than complimentary review by its food writer, Grace Dent, of the Michelin-listed Satori in Moseley.

10 March - Kray Tredwell, Chef Patron of 670 Grams in Digbeth, posts a message on social media reporting that the restaurant may close unless business picks up. More evidence of the grave situation facing chefs and restaurateurs in Birmingham and the West Midlands.

20 March - The Michelin Guide tweets about a dish eaten at the Royal Oak Whatcote in Warwickshire.

26 March - Hogarths Hotel in Solihull announces that Chef Rob Palmer will not now reopen his restaurant Toffs at the hotel as had been announced previously.

27 March - Time Out publishes its list of the best cities in Britain in which to dine and places Birmingham at the number 11 spot.

4 April - Andrew Sheridan, former Chef Proprietor of 8 when it was based in the International Convention Centre and also of Black and Green in Barnt Green announces that he and his partners Sam and Emma Morgan of Open Restaurants Group will open a new restaurant at the site of the former Pensons and the recently closed Native at Tenbury Wells. The Head Chef of Sow, as it will be called when it opens in mid-May, will be Curtis Winstone. 

28 April - The Caterer reports that the former Chef Patron of The Cliff in Ardmore in Ireland, Tony Parkin, has been appointed to be Head Chef at Aktar Islam’s Opheem.

8 May - Paul Foster announces the closure of Salt in Stratford upon Avon after 8 years as the finest restaurant in the town. The restaurant held a Michelin star from 2019 to 2024.