Paul Ainsworth and Jonathan Raggett win top honours at AA Hospitality Awards
Chef Paul Ainsworth and hotelier Jonathan Raggett led the list of winners at the AA Hospitality Awards 2023.
Around 1,000 guests from across the UK hospitality sector gathered for the awards ceremony at JW Marriott Grosvenor House on Monday night (25 September).
The event was hosted by TV presenter and broadcaster Claudia Winkleman and celebrated the country's top hotels, spas, restaurants and pubs and the people behind them.
Red Carnation Hotels' chief executive Raggett received the AA Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of his more than 40-year career working in the industry. He joined Red Carnation in 1998 as general manager of the Rubens at the Palace and was promoted to managing director in 2000, overseeing the rapid expansion of the business.
In 2022, he was one of 25 amateur cyclists who took on a challenge to raise £1m for Cure Leukaemia by cycling the full Tour de France route.
Paul Ainsworth was crowned Chefs' Chef of the Year, an award voted for by chefs at restaurants which hold AA rosettes, while Angela Hartnett was recognised with the Outstanding Contribution Award.
The ceremony saw two restaurants awarded the maximum five-AA-rosette rating: Tom Aikens' Muse in London and Steve Smith at Latymer at Pennyhill Park hotel in Bagshot, Surrey.
Smith took over as head chef at the hotel restaurant in 2020, replacing Matt Worswick.
The Crossbasket Castle hotel in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, was the only new hotel awarded five AA Red Stars.
Simon Numphud, managing director at AA Media, said: "The last year has been tough on the hospitality industry as we've felt, like many others, the challenges facing businesses. Yet I'm so proud of the resilience, innovation and quality shown by the UK hospitality industry in response.
"We would like to extend a massive congratulations all the winners and shortlisted establishments for their hard work, passion, and dedication."
The full list of winners
Chefs' Chef
Paul Ainsworth of Paul Ainsworth at No 6
Accessible Award
Pan Pacific London, London
Sustainable Award
The Pig Hotel Group
Lifetime Achievement Award
Jonathan Raggett, Red Carnation Hotels
Outstanding Contribution Award
Angela Hartnett
Housekeeper of the Year
Nicola Burton from Hartwell House & Spa, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire
Restaurant of the Year
England – The Old Stamp House Restaurant, Ambleside
London – Chutney Mary, London
Wales – The Jackdaw, Conwy
Scotland – Cail Bruich, Glasgow
Hotel of the Year
England – Forest Side, Grasmere
London – The Lanesborough, London
Wales – Penally Abbey Hotel, Penally
Scotland – Fingal, Leith, Edinburgh
Northern Ireland – Killeavy Castle Estate, Killeavy
Restaurant with Rooms
England – The New Inn, Hereford
Wales – Ynyshir Restaurant and Rooms, Eglwys Fach
Scotland – The Witchery, Edinburgh
Spa Hotel of the Year
South Lodge, West Sussex
Group of the Year
The Coaching Inn Group
Small Hotel Group of the Year
Crerar Hotels
Food Service Award
The Strathearn, Gleneagles, Auchterarder
Finalists
Arkle, the Chester Grosvenor
Woven by Adam Smith, Coworth Park
Wine Award
England – Allium at Askham Hall, Cumbria
Wales – Palé Hall Hotel & Restaurant, Gwynedd
Scotland – The Little Chartroom, Edinburgh
College Restaurant of the Year
@thirty-four Restaurant, Exeter College
Finalists:
Senara Restaurant, Truro & Penwith
The Classroom, Cardiff and Vale College
New five rosettes
Muse, London
Steve Smith at Latymer, Surrey
New four rosettes
The Cellar, Fife
Where the Light Gets In, Manchester
Shaun Rankin at Grantley Hall, North Yorkshire
MO, Dormy House, Worcestershire
The Samling, Cumbria
Ben Wilkinson at the Pass, West Sussex
New three rosettes
Next Door, Cheshire
1863 Restaurant with Rooms, Cumbria
The Wildebeest, Norfolk
The George at Alstonefield, Staffordshire.
Forge, North Yorkshire
The Lantern Room, West Yorkshire
1921 Angel Hill, Suffolk
Restaurant Roots, Dorset
The Cottage in the Wood, Worcestershire
The Idle Rocks, Cornwall
The New Inn, Herefordshire
The Lanesborough Grill, London
The Cygnet at the Swan Inn, Oxfordshire
Crockers Tring, Hertfordshire
8 by Andrew Sheridan, Liverpool
The Newport, Fife
Legacy, North Yorkshire
London Stock, London
The Clock House, Surrey
The Bulls Head Inn, Derbyshire
Behind, London
The Star Inn at Harome, North Yorkshire
Cedar Tree by Hrishikesh Desai, Cumbria
The Terrace at the Montagu Arms hotel, Hampshire
Culture, Cornwall
The Killingworth Castle, Wootton, Oxfordshire
The Wild Rabbit, Kingham, Oxfordshire
The Ethicurean, Bristol
New five red stars
Crossbasket Castle, South Lanarkshire
New four red stars
The Fish hotel, Worcestershire
Thornbury Castle hotel, Gloucestershire
