North-East restaurateur Bill Oldfield

His passion for local food started way before it became fashionable – he even rears his own animals at his home in Teesdale, so he can talk to farmers and growers from a position of knowledge.

His award-winning restaurant in Durham employs 20 staff and there is no doubt about its direction from the moment a customer walks in.

A huge food map of the UK dominates one wall and pictures of Oldfield’s local food heroes – producers and cooks – form the place mats and are pictured on the walls. But it all started off very differently.

Mr Oldfield said: “I started my working life as an engineer serving as an officer in the Merchant Navy, later moving into the oil industry and then the energy efficiency sector.

“My travels around the world as an engineer stimulated an interest in food.

‘‘I tasted things I’d never had before in lots of different countries, and developed a philosophy that if someone, somewhere, can eat it, so can I.”

So, in 1996, he left the corporate world and put himself through an informal apprenticeship in catering by working voluntarily in various restaurants around the UK.

In 1997 he opened his first restaurant in Barnard Castle, in County Durham. It won the Les Routiers Gold Plate award for quality, service and value in its first three years of operation, the only restaurant in the British Isles at that time to have achieved the feat.

Mr Oldfield has owned restaurants throughout the North-East, and working closely with farmers and other producers in the region, he and his team source as much as possible locally.

They have won numerous awards as they have led the region’s industry by example.

Mr Oldfield said: “It may seem obvious, but I love food.

Good food. Unprocessed, wellcooked and baked food.

‘‘I despair of the fact that, despite the celebrity chef, cookery programme culture, fewer people cook for themselves at home now than ever before. And if more people understood their food, there wouldn’t be such an obesity issue.”

As well as the restaurant, Oldfields runs the catering at Shotton Hall wedding and conference venue, near Peterlee.

Recently the company launched a range of ready meals under the banner of Oldfields Pantry, featuring dishes from the menu in the Durham restaurant, which even enables them to supply the complete menu for the Old Well Inn, in Barnard Castle.

Away from the restaurant, in 1998 Mr Oldfield founded, and is still chairman of, a voluntary, not-for-profit private sector company called Teesdale Marketing Limited, which promotes Teesdale as a place to visit, work and live.

The company started Barnard Castle farmers’ market, which quickly became one of the best in the region, winning many awards.

The company has also run Teesdale’s Market Town Initiative programme, Teesdale’s tourism promotion on behalf of the local authority, and the just-completed successful four-year Love Food local food promotion and education project, covering Teesdale, Weardale, Derwentside and the Allen Valleys.

He is a regular columnist for The Northern Echo, writing under the banner of Bill’s Bites in the Weekend section.

“For me, food isn’t just about dishing it up and taking the money. It’s a passion. We should all take more notice of what we eat and how it’s produced.

We’d all be a bit healthier and, I daresay, a bit happier,” he said.

Five minutes with... Bill Oldfield

Favourite North-East building and why?

It has to be the remarkable Durham Cathedral. Nothing compares to its majesty and beauty. Not only is it the greatest building in the North- East, but it’s one of the greatest in the world.

What was your first job and how much did you get paid?

I was a paperboy where I lived in Worsley, in Manchester, working six days a week, Monday to Saturday for 14 shillings. But I could get an extra £5 – a small fortune – by doing other people’s rounds on a Sunday.

The bags were much heavier because the Sunday papers were much bigger, of course, and I had to carry them crisscrossed across my body.

What is the worst job you have had?

Actually, it is aspects of the most highly-paid job I ever had, working in the oil industry in Libya in the 1980s.

The isolation was terrible, but I also hated the way that colleagues would gamble huge amounts of money on the turn of a card. I hate gambling and have seen what it can do.

What would you cook for me if I came around for dinner?

Hard to answer, because my life is food. I cook something different every day. But probably fish – a starter of shellfish and a main course featuring one of the kings of fish such as John Dory, brill or turbot.

What would your superpower be?

I’d love to be able to fly like a bird, and go anywhere I wanted. The sense of freedom would be wonderful.

I often dream about being able to fly.

Name four people, dead or alive, who would be at your perfect dinner party

My wife says one of them has to be her. However, I’d love to talk to Brian Cox, the scientist, artist and inventor Leonardo Da Vinci and film director Quentin Tarentino, who is an amazing individualist. And my mum, Joan, who is always good value at a social gathering. I like people who are prepared to think differently. Maybe my wife can be the waitress...

Most expensive thing you’ve bought – other than your car or house – and how much?

A restaurant... they cost a small fortune.

Who is the best person to follow on Twitter and why?

I dislike social media when it’s pointless. I tend to follow people in the business community, and to get the message out there to people who matter to me and my businesses, so not really sure what ‘‘best’’ would be. Social media can be a very useful tool if used wisely.

Favourite book?

It has to be Winnie the Pooh and the House at Pooh Corner by A.A. Milne. They both conjure up great memories of having them read to me as a child, and of reading them to my children.

Beautiful, whimsical stories of great charm.

When did you last cry?

I don’t think I have cried since I was a teenager, but can’t remember exactly when. Not because I am not emotional or passionate – it’s just the way I am.

What is your greatest achievement?

Changing career when I was 40 and becoming a restaurateur – getting out of the corporate world and becoming self-employed was one of the best things I have ever done.

What is the best piece of advice in business you have ever been given?

There’s no such thing as a free lunch...

Favourite animal and why?

The pig. They are amazing, intelligent creatures. They make great companions and great eating, from nose to tail.

I keep pigs and really love having them around. I’ve spend many an hour sitting down in the paddock with a glass of wine, talking to them.

I’d house-train one and keep it in the house if they weren’t so clumsy. Oh, and our Bedlington terrier, Bella, who’s a real character.

Most famous person on your mobile phone?

I have more than 1,500 contacts in my phone, many of them critical to my business. I guess Lord Derek Foster and the Dean of Durham Cathedral are particularly well known. And, of course, Peter Barron, editor of The Northern Echo...

What was the last band you saw live?

I love live music – tonight I’m going to see Elbow in Newcastle. I go to lots of concerts and festivals, including Glastonbury. I didn’t get tickets for last year, but did go to see the Rolling Stones in Hyde Park with my youngest daughter, Sally.

They’ve still got it.

Your perfect night in?

We love entertaining, so a dinner party with good friends and lots of wine, and me doing the cooking.

In another life I would be...

I’d probably be a performer of some kind, possibly a musician. I really admire singer/songwriters like Rufus Wainwright or Bob Dylan – people who go their own way and have a different and unique outlook on life.

Who would play you in a film of your life?

I don’t know much about films, but I’m sure there’s some tall, good looking, blond actor who would be only too happy to play me.

What irritates you?

Bad driving, lying politicians (so most of them), sloppy writing in the media and the fact that so few people can cook for themselves.

What is your secret talent?

Singing. I’m actually an international pop star, but noone knows it.