Tom Kerridge: 'I worry about being relevant'

Even after 20 years, Tom Kerridge still gets nervous. He wonders whether the Hand and Flowers, his two Michelin-starred pub in Marlow, Buckinghamshire, is still part of the conversation.

“I’m still scared every day,” he tells the Standard. “I worry about being relevant. Is the phone still ringing? It’s been the same for 20 years. I think you have to be incredibly arrogant to think you’ve ‘made it’. It’s the same in every business, any good entrepreneur will think it.

“And so you have to keep going. It could all stop at any time. You can’t daydream through the day. You have to make sure everything is done properly, to the same standard as it always was. The feeling sits heavy on your shoulders. It could all go wrong.”

Kerridge opened the Hand and Flowers in 2005, pre-credit crunch, pre-brexit, pre-covid. They were more ebullient times, when people had money to spend and dining out in Britain was still a nascent happening among the masses.

The chef started simply, with his wife Beth and just two hands in the kitchen. Now he has more than 200 staff across his pubs and restaurants and is a regular on TV. Kerridge has cookbooks. He’s a brand. He’s afforded an audience with the Prime Minister with a degree of regularity, continuously pushing for lower VAT, lower business rates, for Westminster to give hospitality a break.

Kerridge, a lifelong Labour supporter, says the last Government didn’t listen. This one does, he says. Has it enacted any tangible change?

“I’ve spoken to Kier a number of times. About freedom of movement of people. About a reduction on VAT and business rates. It’s an ongoing conversation.”

Much has been said about how hospitality has taken a battering in recent times – the last budget meant National Insurance Contributions (NIC) have gone up by 13.8 per cent to 15 per cent, while the earnings threshold at which they start to be charged fell from £9,100 to £5,000 a year.

Kerridge says that from a business point of view, the situation is turbulent, and adds the closure of pubs and restaurants is inevitable. Some time after this interview, he closed his Chelsea pub the Butcher’s Tap & Grill, citing the “challenging climate hospitality businesses now face”.

“I come from a working class background, a single parent family. I have two viewpoints. On one side, you can look at the situation from a social and economic point of view. We’re in a position where the country needs to fix transport, education, the National Health Service. Infrastructure is crumbling all around us and the government needs to raise finances to solve these problems. Somewhere, someone is going to have to take a hit.

“But are businesses still able to exist? All these pressures put forward very poignant and strong questions – I understand what the government is trying to achieve, but from a business leader point of view, I look at it and think I’m not entirely sure this is the right way of doing it.

“Margins are already very fine. They’re being eroded and chipped away. And that doesn’t help the workforce at all. You’re not going to solve anything by losing jobs. I believe in building things – a country with a strong workforce. People who work have the opportunity to have a happy life. There are so many disadvantages to so many people, and I want as many people as possible to have opportunities.”

His general manager has been with him for 18 years, his restaurant manager for 15. Many of his staff have worked for him for more than a decade. It helps foster relationships with guests, he says, many of whom are loyal and don’t just visit once.

“We have a loyal following,” says Kerridge. “People come every year. Some come in every couple of months. I think it helps that they recognise the staff; they’re comfortable, it feels like home, so they’re able to offer incredible service.”

No wonder the Hand and Flowers is in celebration mode. Two decades is no mean feat. It has become a bastion of high-end pub dining, an example of what can be achieved in British food.

Kerridge says he always wanted it to be this way, a place of “heart and soul”.

He says: “I wanted to take away the pomp and ceremony that people associated with Michelin stars back then [2005]. I wanted to create a very different space – no tablecloths or hushed dining rooms. You can come in wearing shorts and flip-flops, trainers and jeans. It’s relaxed. But it’s still a special place to come and eat. It’s not cheap, obviously.

“We have a reputation now and that’s a big thing. I think it’s ingrained into the psyche of people who know – we’ve been around for such a long time.”

In the dining room, week to week, diners sit down to haddock and Parmesan omelettes, squid lasagne, and pork with liquorice and potato risotto. The food is stunning, a testament to produce, skill and comfort. Kerridge is proud, rightly so, but again warns of place and time – the circumstances are challenging, even for his two-star pub in the moneyed home counties, and he hopes to see more prosperous times.

“We’re not immune to problems. We’ve been through adversity, as all businesses have. I think there’s a huge woodland in front of us full of brambles and nightmares and we’ve got to get through it. We might make a wrong turn. But we’ll keep going, we’ll make difficult decisions, and we’ll get to the other side.

“But to get to 20 years is amazing and to be recognised is fantastic. We have such a brilliant team and we pay homage to British produce every day. And we always want to improve.

“To be here and cook in a buzzy environment, to feel the energy and the drive, the creativity in the dishes, it’s amazing. The responsibility weighs heavy – wages, suppliers, everything. But we’ll keep going, we’ll keep pushing. Maybe we’ll be here in another 20 years.”

The Hand & Flowers 126 West Street, Marlow SL7 2BP, thehandandflowers.co.uk