Northern chef/restaurateur Paul Heathcote is spending £3m on three new restaurants and the refurbishment of his existing restaurant portfolio.

Heathcotes, the chef’s company, is to open a new site in Manchester’s city centre as well as in Clitheroe and Cheadle Hulme, both in Lancashire.

It will bring the chef’s mini-empire to 15 restaurants in the North of England, employing around 750 staff.

Heathcote said: “We have expanded gradually over the last 16 years since I opened my first restaurant in Longridge. However, the time is now ripe to step things up a gear.”

The gradual refurbishment of the existing restaurant portfolio is scheduled to run up until the end of next year.

Paul Heathcote: London Road, Alderley Edge, Cheshire >>

By Chris Druce

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