Heston Blumenthal has recruited former Michelin-starred chef Clive Dixon to push forward the food at his Bray pub, the Hind’s Head.

Dixon joined Blumenthal’s team two weeks ago but is not expected to take up full responsibility for the Hind’s Head kitchen in the short-term.

Blumenthal said: “His input and knowledge will be invaluable working alongside the development kitchen in a bid to further explore historic British dishes. He’s the perfect chef to build on the foundation of our current menu.”

Dixon held a Michelin star for four years in the late 1990s when he was head chef at Gloucestershire hotel Lords of the Manor in Upper Slaughter.

Since then he has worked as a pub chef-patron, first at the Pheasant Inn in Cambridgeshire, then, since 2002, at the Snooty Fox in the village of Lowick near Kettering.

Dixon has sold his financial stake in the Snooty Fox to his business partner at the pub restaurant, David Hennigan, in order to be free to front the Hind’s Head team.

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By Joanna Wood

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