2013 Roux Scholar Paul O'Neill to join Bristol's Berwick Lodge

Paul O'Neill, the winner of the 2013 Roux Scholarship, is set to become the head chef at Berwick Lodge hotel in Bristol.

O'Neill, currently senior sous chef at Ashdown Park hotel in Sussex, will start his new role on 1 July this year. He replaces Ross Marshall.

Speaking about the move, O'Neill said: "I think it could be a really good opportunity. It is a small hotel with a smallish team but the right amount of covers to really push things forward.

"A third rosette or a [Michelin] star would be great. Now I have got to get comfortable and see what is possible."

Meanwhile, Sarah Arikan, the owner of Berwick Lodge, which currently has five AA red stars for the rooms and two AA rosettes for the restaurant, said: "I'm absolutely thrilled and ecstatic to have appointed Paul as head chef and am very much looking forward to his arrival at Berwick Lodge!

"With plans for a re-launch of the restaurant later in the year, I have high hopes that Paul will bring his wealth of experience, knowledge of fine dining and creativity to really make his name as a world class chef at Berwick Lodge and help move it forward to achieve a three-rosette status and one day, a Michelin star."

O'Neill was the 30th chef to win the prestigious Roux Scholarship, and his win was televised on the Watch channel after the Roux family decided to mark the 30th anniversary of the competition by allowing it to be filmed.

Following the competition, he completed a stage at the three-Michelin-starred restaurant Pierre Gagnaire in Paris last year as part of his prize.

Berwick Lodge, a Victorian country mansion has 10 rooms and sits in 18 acres of garden and woodland.

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