TERRY Laybourne, right, doesn't like interviews. He is engaging and intelligent, affable and articulate, with a wry, self-deprecating sense of humour. But he is also clearly nervous - during our conversation, his left arm constantly sweeps back and forth across the tabletop, like a pendulum marking the time.

Along with Eugene McCoy in the Tees Valley, he is widely credited with bringing accessible, high-quality dining to the region - and making it fashionable.

But he is uncomfortable with the label of North-East culinary pioneer, and it shows.

He pulls a face as if he has just tasted my cooking when I suggest that he is something of a regional asset.

"I don't think it is down to me or Eugene as much as how society has changed," he said.

"I predicted this more than ten years ago. All the guys in the trade were moaning and groaning about the growth of the pizzeria.

"I felt that the pizzeria was introducing restaurants to young people - that going out for a meal was becoming a social activity.

"As these people mature, their tastes develop and they want more than £3.95 happy-hour pizza and pasta. That is now starting to bear fruit."

Born in Lemington, Newcastle, he cut his teeth at what he describes as "Fancy Dan" hotels in Switzerland, before moving to the Fisherman's Lodge, in Jesmond, Newcastle.

"I was working in a spa town where the average age was about 85 and I was 21.

"I came home from Switzerland for six weeks between seasons, with a pocketful of money, and had a whale of a time. I never went back.

"My skis and my kit are still out there, somewhere in the Alps."

He ended up at the Fisherman's Wharf restaurant, before being appointed head chef at the Fisherman's Lodge. He was there from 1982 to 1988.

"I went for two years - the longest two years of my life," he said.

"I probably set myself some goals that were unachievable - either that or I failed to do in six years what I set out to do in two."

He decided the time was right to open his own place, and launched 21 Queen Street, in Newcastle's Quayside.

"I used to work with this Italian guy at the Fisherman's Lodge and he had a theory that Geordies liked his food hot and piled high.

"He used to say that you just had to make sure it was hot, salty and crunchy, and that there was plenty of it.

"I used to look in the mirror and see I was a Geordie, but knew I wanted different things."

The restaurant opened in September 1988 and was an overnight success.

"With 21 Queen Street, we took all the shine off and made it more democratic, more populist.

"It was a response to what I had been doing for the previous six years."

That was followed by Caf 21 in Ponteland, Northumberland, where he aimed to create an even more inclusive atmosphere.

"I was hit by this strain of paranoia that, because 21 Queen Street was the fanciest restaurant in town, maybe people were not coming there for the food.

"I worried they were coming there because it was the place to be, so I started driving everyone crazy with this idea about a bistro.

"I decided we wouldn't give a sh*t about the crockery and the chairs and tables, but the food was going to be great and we were going to sell it cheap.

"It worked - and it proved that a Geordie didn't just want his food piled high and red hot."

Bistro 21 in Durham followed in 1996, then Caf 21 in Sunderland two years later. But the Wearside venture only lasted 18 months.

"I failed when I went to Sunderland," he said bluntly.

"I got the market out of step a bit - I went there with the Caf 21 concept and people were expecting the whole Fancy Dan restaurant."

While it was closed for refurbishment, someone made him an offer and he sold up.

He re-branded the Michelin-starred 21 Queen Street as a Caf 21 in 2000 and also runs Caf Live, part of the Live Theatre on the Quayside, which is also being revamped.

He agreed to be interviewed to promote his latest and biggest venture to date - Jesmond Dene House.

In partnership with Durham developer Peter Candler, £7m is turning the former mansion into a boutique hotel and restaurant.

They hope the Grade II-listed building, in Newcastle's Jesmond Dene Park, will become a magnet for tourists, as well as attracting North-East diners.

It opens on September 1, and has 40 en- suite bedrooms and, of course, a restaurant.

In line with the mantra from his 2004 cook book, A Quest for Taste, it will focus on seasonal, regional produce.

"The time is right to do it now," he said. "Farmers have really got their act together - there is a critical mass of good quality, organic produce to ride on.

"Five years ago, you couldn't have done it.

"When you are young and hungry, you want to try everything. I have got rid of all those demons and am happy to work with what is there, and what is at its best."

He expects Jesmond Dene House to take a few years to reach its potential of an estimated £4.5m generated a year.

But he has no plans to go for a Michelin star with the new restaurant.

"You set your stall out and, if you do what you do well, and it fits that criteria, that is great.

"The people who set out to chase that kind of thing are fools of the first order."

A business empire that employs 110 staff and which, last year, had a turnover of £2.2m. Many would be content with that.

But he could not resist Jesmond Dene House - either the challenge it posed or what it would represent when completed.

"I had to do a lot of soul-searching and ask myself what the bloody hell I wanted to get involved for.

"I grew up in Fancy Dan hotels and learned my craft in them. Part of that never leaves you.

"In some respects, dumbing down the Caf 21 thing was the best decision I made, because the time was right.

"But part of me still had a little niggle that I was giving up on something.

"It is nice to be doing something again where you are pushing the envelope and testing accepted theory.

"It is that adrenaline thing - basically, we are putting our a*ses on the line."