A FORMER RAF chef who grilled burgers for the most powerful man in the world has joined the team at a converted bullet-making factory.

Chris Coleman is one of five members of staff to have started their new jobs at Newton Aycliffe's ROF 59, the former Presswork Metals factory which is due to re-open as a £1.1m mixed leisure facility later this month (JULY).

Mr Coleman, who is trained in classical French cuisine, spent several years in the Royal Air Force and ran his own restaurant in France before he jumped at the chance to take on the role of head chef at ROF 59.

"I have some wonderful memories of my time in the Forces," he said.

"I once cooked for John Major, who was Prime Minister at the time, and on a separate occasion for Bill Clinton. It was quite amusing because we practiced cooking various dishes for three days to make sure they were absolutely spot on - and he asked for a cheeseburger."

"I've always loved a challenge," he says. "After my RAF days I bought a 10-bedroom boutique hotel and restaurant in Graçay - a little village in the Cher region of France - which hadn't been touched for 100 years or more.

"I had to restore it. There was only one en-suite bathroom and by the time I sold it there was 10. Three miles of copper piping had to go into it and I made all the tables myself.

"I call it my big adventure, and it certainly was."

ROF 59 has been built on the site of the former Presswork Metals factory after Finley Structures invested more than £1.1m in creating the new facility, which will include a restaurant and bar/lounge, named The Blitz and The Bunker, as well as an activity centre, featuring 20 different climbing walls. The business will create 20 jobs.

The munitions factories in Aycliffe employed 17,000 workers, mostly women, between 1941 and 1945 and was an extremely important part of the country’s war effort. The work was highly dangerous as the women filled bullets and bombs for the boys in the battlefield. There were a number of serious and fatal explosions, with eight people being killed in one blast.

ROF 59 will eventually include several items of Aycliffe Angels memorabilia which will enable the town's proud history of the munitions-making factories to live on.

Mr Coleman added: "What they're doing to preserve the history of the original building is a wonderful thing and one of the main attractions.

"What people did back at home during World War II is a story that needs to be told. Successive governments have failed to acknowledge the contribution these people made, which is a great shame, and I think this is at least an attempt to put something right there."