North Shields chef scoops up prestigious Scottish award

A chef from North Shields, has been cooking up a storm in Scotland. 

40-year-old Michael Leathley, was born and raised in the North East before moving to Scotland with his wife and young son. 

He has worked as a head chef at The Pierhouse Hotel and Seafood Restaurant in Port Appin, Argyll for the past three and a half years.

Now, Michael has been recognised for his culinary excellence, picking up the top National Restaurant of the Year title, at the Hotels of the Year Scotland Awards 2023-2024.

Michael said of his win: “It’s a real honour to have picked up this year’s top ‘National Restaurant of the Year’ award and help put our wee corner of Argyll on the UK’s foodie map.

“We work really closely with a network of the region’s best local producers and suppliers, including the freshest langoustines, mussels harvested from Loch Linnhe and

Loch Etive, as well as fine handpicked oysters from the oyster beds of Loch Creran, just 10 minutes from the hotel.”

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Michael’s upbringing in the seaside town of North Shields meant he had a love of seafood from a young age. 

He explained: “The thing that reminds me most of my childhood is smoked kippers. When I was very young my mum worked as a graphic designer and there was a festival she would be involved in with all kinds of artists and musicians taking part. One of the snacks you would get there would be a whole kipper in a soft white roll.

“The smell of that – the smoke, butter and mustard – brings it all back. It’s memories of smoky fish and kippers that opened that entire door for me. I was a very strange child – I loved smoked fish at a really young age and would always be quite excited about it. 

“I grew up in North Shields and my granddad was an inshore fisherman. When he retired from sea fishing, he took up eel fishing around Northumbria and would smoke his own eels down at his allotment.”