A CHEF who trained under the infamous Marco Pierre White has opened his own restaurant with the help of a County Durham law firm.

Chester-le-Street-based Gordon Brown Associates has helped former North-East Chef of the Year Richard Sim set up an Italian restaurant.

The quality of work the law firm had carried out for Mr Sim’s new business partners, won the family-run firm the job, despite the restaurant being 40 miles north in the Northumberland coastal town of Amble.

Mr Sim trained under Mr Pierre White at the Berkeley Hotel, Piccadilly, and also led the Treehouse restaurant, at The Alnwick Garden, for the Duchess of Northumberland.

He has teamed up with father and son Les and Mark Jones to open Zecca.

Mark, a financial advisor, and his father, an estate agent, had worked with conveyancers at Gordon Brown Associates, so decided to call on the firm to help with their new venture.

Commercial property solicitor James McEwen was drafted in to carry out the legal work in connectioni with buying the building at 47 High Street.

The restaurant is also using the firm for its employment contracts.

The restaurant will be able to seat up to 80 people and has a traditional wood-fired pizza oven and open kitchen.

Mark Jones said: “We had been very impressed with the work the firm had done on the conveyancing, so we decided to see if that extended through the other areas of the firm and have been pleased to see it does.”

The three men came together after Amble’s Market Town Initiative highlighted a need to capitalise on tourism, as many people simply passed through because of a lack of things to do or places to go.

Mr McEwen, at Gordon Brown Associates, said: “It is great to see people coming together to fill a gap in the market and help their area to capitalise on tourism.”

Founded in 1981, Gordon Brown Associates has legal offices in Chester-le-Street, Newcastle, Sunderland and Houghton le Spring, as well as Estate Agencies in Chester-le- Street, Sunderland and Low Fell, Gateshead.