James Martin to open hotel restaurant in home town of Malton

Celebrity chef James Martin is to launch a restaurant at the Talbot hotel in his home town of Malton, North Yorkshire.

Owned by the Fitzwilliam Estate for more than 200 years, the Talbot is currently closed while it undergoes a £4m restoration. It will reopen in the spring with 26 bedrooms, a 70-seat restaurant, a lounge bar, a public bar and a private function room. The hotel was previously managed by English Rose Hotels, but last year was brought back under the management of the Fitzwilliam Estate.

Martin, the presenter of BBC TV's Saturday Kitchen, is pleased to be returning to his roots. "North Yorkshire is in my blood and I've watched the town of Malton successfully build a reputation as a foodie destination, with its popular food festival and the abundance of growers and producers in the area," he said.

"I'm really looking forward to working with the team behind the new-look hotel and the first step is to plan the kitchen. I shall be looking at sourcing local suppliers and guests can look forward to finding all my favourite Yorkshire produce on the menu from Wakefield rhubarb to Whitby crab."

Tom Naylor-Leyland of the Talbot hotel, who is also responsible for Malton's Food Festival, said Martin's involvement would set the tone of what the new hotel would be all about. "We have an abundance of fantastic fresh produce right here on our doorstep and James is just the chef to make the most of it, creating exciting dishes that will bring customers back time and again," he said.

Last year Martin, who cut his culinary teeth in Yorkshire helping his father in the kitchens of stately home Castle Howard, opened the Leeds Kitchen, a restaurant within Alea Casino at Clarence Dock in Leeds.

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By Janet Harmer

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