Chef Mark Poynton steps down from Mark Poynton at Caistor Hall

Chef Mark Poynton has stepped down as chef patron and director of the Michelin-starred Mark Poynton at Caistor Hall in Norwich after four and a half years in the role.

The announcement comes after catering company Brasteds, which operated Caistor Hall, appointed liquidators in May, after having sold the hotel to training company Quadmark in April.

At the time of the announcement, Brasteds’ managing director Nick Mills said the sale was necessary to alleviate the “many difficult issues the industry had faced over the last five years”, but that Mark Poynton’s restaurant would continue to trade as normal.

Poynton opened the tasting menu-only restaurant in February 2023, receiving its first Michelin star at the 2025 Michelin Guide ceremony. The restaurant also holds three-AA-rosettes.

He was previously head chef of Daniel Clifford’s two-Michelin-starred Midsummer House in Cambridge and chef patron of the Michelin-starred Alimentum in Cambridge, which closed in 2018.

Poynton wrote in a post on Instagram: “It’s with a heavy heart that after 4.5 years work (being open 3.5 years) I decided last week that I would be leaving and resigning my position as chef/patron and director at Mark Poynton at Caistor Hall. Being Norwich’s only Michelin star restaurant and holding 3AA rosettes it has been the upmost pleasure and a lot of fun, getting to know all the local foodies and building friendships that will last a lifetime, and memories these guests and suppliers have brought to the restaurant will live with me forever.

“Thank you to the team headed up by the super talented Byron Franklin. Without him, the success certainly wouldn’t have come so quickly and been sustained from day one to now.”

Poynton stated he will focus all his efforts on his tasting menu-only restaurant with rooms, the Ancient Shepherds by Mark Poynton, which he opened last year in Fen Ditton, Cambridgeshire.

The restaurant at Caistor Hall will now be run by Nick Mills, who, according to Companies House, remains a director of Mark Poynton at Caistor Hall.