“If you’re going to have a sh*t day, what better place than here?” Stephen Terry says looking over Abergavenny’s green hills from his restaurant on a roasting hot afternoon. The renowned chef who transformed this old rundown pub into one of Wales’ best places to eat has had too many sh*t days recently.
He’s been at the centre of a high profile court case which has left him feeling angry after his former secretary, Nicola Nightingale, fleeced the restaurant for £150,000 with the help of her husband, Simon (you can read the court coverage here). He is angry over what the case has done to his family, how a team of staff he cares for deeply have been “shafted” by a “meticulous” crook, and at how the case has been dealt with in court which has left him with little confidence in the justice system.
Inviting WalesOnline to The Hardwick for an extensive interview on what the case has done to him, his family and his staff at a time where he admits the restaurant was already struggling, the straight-talking chef also addressed his concerns over the future of top dining in Britain, why he’ll always be irritated by “pretentious” cooking, and how it took him six years to get himself out of the Michelin Guide which he never wanted to be in.
