Bruce and Rebecca Elsworth

A chance comment on a walk past an empty shop led Bruce and Rebecca Elsworth to follow their dreams and open their own restaurant in Skipton.

Both born and bred within a few miles of the market town, they had each worked their way up in the hospitality trade and with a baby on the way were keen to push their careers to higher levels while staying rooted in the area they love.

The Elsworth Kitchen opened in Coach Street in July 2018 and baby Florence was born in October; both are thriving and the family is busy making plans for developing the business firmly committed to life in the Dales.

Bruce, who made his name as head chef and director at the award-winning Angel at Hetton, said: “We wanted to do something for ourselves, bringing relaxed, fine dining to the heart of Skipton and supporting the community.

“We were walking past the premises with family when someone suggested we should buy the place. We agreed it had potential and viewed it the next day.

“Now we are loving growing our trade, establishing ourselves while making time to spend with Florence – we only open evenings on Friday and Saturday for this reason.”

Rebecca has managed five-star hotels as well as listing head of events and leading the team which launched Friends of Ham in Ilkley on her CV. She is developing the use of The Elsworth Kitchen’s upstairs room for community events such as mother and baby groups, as well as spearheading the front of house team while Bruce looks after the kitchen.

She said: “Skipton is where we wanted to bring up our family. It’s such a friendly and thriving place and with our own business we have the ultimate in job satisfaction and work/life balance. Our ethos is that everyone is welcome here, whether it’s a cup of coffee or a full meal and we want to extend that to hosting community events. Skipton is a fantastic place which has a real buzz about it. We wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.”