Paul Ainsworth and Jonathan Raggett win top honours at AA Hospitality Awards

Chef Paul Ainsworth and hotelier Jonathan Raggett led the list of winners at the AA Hospitality Awards 2023.

 

Around 1,000 guests from across the UK hospitality sector gathered for the awards ceremony at JW Marriott Grosvenor House on Monday night (25 September).

 

The event was hosted by TV presenter and broadcaster Claudia Winkleman and celebrated the country’s top hotels, spas, restaurants and pubs and the people behind them.

 

Red Carnation Hotels’ chief executive Raggett received the AA Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of his more than 40-year career working in the industry. He joined Red Carnation in 1998 as general manager of the Rubens at the Palace and was promoted to managing director in 2000, overseeing the rapid expansion of the business.

 

In 2022, he was one of 25 amateur cyclists who took on a challenge to raise £1m for Cure Leukaemia by cycling the full Tour de France route.

 

Paul Ainsworth was crowned Chefs' Chef of the Year, an award voted for by chefs at restaurants which hold AA rosettes, while Angela Hartnett was recognised with the Outstanding Contribution Award.

 

The ceremony saw two restaurants awarded the maximum five-AA-rosette rating: Tom Aikens’ Muse in London and Steve Smith at Latymer at Pennyhill Park hotel in Bagshot, Surrey.

 

Smith took over as head chef at the hotel restaurant in 2020, replacing Matt Worswick.

 

The Crossbasket Castle hotel in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, was the only new hotel awarded five AA Red Stars.

 

Simon Numphud, managing director at AA Media, said: “The last year has been tough on the hospitality industry as we’ve felt, like many others, the challenges facing businesses. Yet I’m so proud of the resilience, innovation and quality shown by the UK hospitality industry in response.

 

"We would like to extend a massive congratulations all the winners and shortlisted establishments for their hard work, passion, and dedication.”

 

The full list of winners

 

Chefs’ Chef

 

Paul Ainsworth of Paul Ainsworth at No 6

 

Accessible Award

 

Pan Pacific London, London

 

Sustainable Award

 

The Pig Hotel Group

 

Lifetime Achievement Award

 

Jonathan Raggett, Red Carnation Hotels

 

Outstanding Contribution Award

 

Angela Hartnett

 

Housekeeper of the Year

 

Nicola Burton from Hartwell House & Spa, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire

 

Restaurant of the Year

 

England – The Old Stamp House Restaurant, Ambleside

 

London – Chutney Mary, London

 

Wales – The Jackdaw, Conwy

 

Scotland – Cail Bruich, Glasgow

 

Hotel of the Year

 

England – Forest Side, Grasmere

 

London – The Lanesborough, London

 

Wales – Penally Abbey Hotel, Penally

 

Scotland – Fingal, Leith, Edinburgh

 

Northern Ireland – Killeavy Castle Estate, Killeavy

 

Restaurant with Rooms

 

England – The New Inn, Hereford

 

Wales – Ynyshir Restaurant and Rooms, Eglwys Fach

 

Scotland – The Witchery, Edinburgh

 

Spa Hotel of the Year

 

South Lodge, West Sussex

 

Group of the Year

 

The Coaching Inn Group

 

Small Hotel Group of the Year

 

Crerar Hotels

 

Food Service Award

 

The Strathearn, Gleneagles, Auchterarder

 

Finalists

 

Arkle, the Chester Grosvenor

 

Woven by Adam Smith, Coworth Park

 

Wine Award

 

England – Allium at Askham Hall, Cumbria

 

Wales – Palé Hall Hotel & Restaurant, Gwynedd

 

Scotland – The Little Chartroom, Edinburgh

 

College Restaurant of the Year

 

@thirty-four Restaurant, Exeter College

 

Finalists:

 

Senara Restaurant, Truro & Penwith

 

The Classroom, Cardiff and Vale College

 

New five rosettes

 

Muse, London

 

Steve Smith at Latymer, Surrey

 

New four rosettes

 

The Cellar, Fife

 

Where the Light Gets In, Manchester

 

Shaun Rankin at Grantley Hall, North Yorkshire

 

MO, Dormy House, Worcestershire

 

The Samling, Cumbria

 

Ben Wilkinson at the Pass, West Sussex

 

New three rosettes

 

Next Door, Cheshire

 

1863 Restaurant with Rooms, Cumbria

 

The Wildebeest, Norfolk

 

The George at Alstonefield, Staffordshire.

 

Forge, North Yorkshire

 

The Lantern Room, West Yorkshire

 

1921 Angel Hill, Suffolk

 

Restaurant Roots, Dorset

 

The Cottage in the Wood, Worcestershire

 

The Idle Rocks, Cornwall

 

The New Inn, Herefordshire

 

The Lanesborough Grill, London

 

The Cygnet at the Swan Inn, Oxfordshire

 

Crockers Tring, Hertfordshire

 

8 by Andrew Sheridan, Liverpool

 

The Newport, Fife

 

Legacy, North Yorkshire

 

London Stock, London

 

The Clock House, Surrey

 

The Bulls Head Inn, Derbyshire

 

Behind, London

 

The Star Inn at Harome, North Yorkshire

 

Cedar Tree by Hrishikesh Desai, Cumbria

 

The Terrace at the Montagu Arms hotel, Hampshire

 

Culture, Cornwall

 

The Killingworth Castle, Wootton, Oxfordshire

 

The Wild Rabbit, Kingham, Oxfordshire

 

The Ethicurean, Bristol

 

New five red stars

 

Crossbasket Castle, South Lanarkshire

 

New four red stars

 

The Fish hotel, Worcestershire

 

Thornbury Castle hotel, Gloucestershire