'What else could I have done in dad's kitchen?': Alain Roux opens a cookery school at Waterside Inn

"In the space of one week there was dad's passing and lockdown," he confirms. "I was telling 130 employees to stay home and that my father had died. We were also organising a funeral that had to be changed three times.

"For the service, dad was laid in the main dining room in the restaurant and we couldn't have the vicar from the village. There were only 15 of us. Apart from being in the dining room, which he would have been pleased with, it was quite sad with such a small, limited service. It was very personal but not what anyone of us would have planned or wished."

With Alain alone at the Waterside Inn during its closure, he had time to think about keeping the operation afloat amid the Covid chaos and consider what to do with his father's home, located next door to the business. Michel had lived there for the last 15 years of his life and Alain couldn't imagine living in the property himself, so he set about coming up with a use for the space that both respected and reinforced his father's legacy.

The solution was designed to both "keep the legacy of the family on track and look to the future". So a year-long development was planned that would convert the property into a resource for learning and passing on a passion for gastronomy. The house was extended and the living room converted into a library, while the kitchen became a state-of-the-art cookery school.

"It's an addition for our guests and something quite unique for our team, whether they are front of house, housekeepers or, of course, our chefs," Alain says.

Michel Roux's legacy at the Waterside Inn

Featuring more than 3,000 cookery books, the library must be one of the most complete collections of culinary history in the country. Speaking in what is now the Michel Roux Library, Alain says: "My dad spent his last three months here and he died here. For me, it's still dad's home. To convert it to a library is something special. Many chefs have a collection of cookery books tucked away, but here we have a vast collection with some very old and rare books."

The library is made up of books left to Alain by his father, combined with his own collection. Kate Fairlie added those owned by her late husband Andrew, chef patron of Restaurant Andrew Fairlie at Gleneagles in Auchterarder, after he died in 2019. This lends some symmetry to the legacy of learning, since he was the first Roux scholar in 1984.

There are some tomes on wine, but otherwise the library is dedicated to food and cooking, from Larousse Gastronomique and an early edition of the Escoffier Guide to Modern Cookery to more contemporary books including the ElBulli folio and Heston Blumenthal's In Search of Perfection.

"One of my favourites is Michel Guérard's book Cuisine Gourmande, which he dedicated to Andrew," Alain says. "Of course, that's where he did his stage as the first Roux scholar. It's dated and hand signed." But by no means is the collection a monument to be admired from afar as some elaborate wallpaper. This is a working library to inspire guests and team members.

"We know that everything is all online now, but there are books here that you can't find anywhere else," Alain says. "This a proper library. The space is for the guests, but really it's more for my team than anyone else. They can come here at any time, even if it's just for a short break, and sit down and flick through a book."

Visitors must log in and out, but Alain says that's mainly so he can monitor who is making the most of the resource. Some names crop up frequently in the guest book, which gives the chef great pleasure.

"The team come regularly and study and gain knowledge," he adds. "Some even flick through the French books. But it shows that in cooking, even if you're not fluent in a language, you can pick it up by the description and ingredients. There is no limit. This is what I love. You don't see these places any more as a resource. What would be the point of having all of these books just for me, tucked away somewhere? Now I look at them more than ever. To see my team interested and keen to learn from them is a joy. You learn so much reading books and you can have an insight into every style of cooking."

The room, designed by Alain's wife Laura, is a calm, reflective space where chefs and guests can spend time to think and be inspired.

It overlooks a new Japanese herb garden with fruit trees and berries, through heritage-style glazing framed by black aluminium.

"We keep finding books with dad's Post-it notes stuck in. He's even been cheeky on a few and written notes on the pages," Alain says. "It's very personal, but it's a place where I think, that's dad. He always wanted to share his passion and knowledge with young people. For him it was natural. This being in his living room feels appropriate."

Working with Michael Nizzero

Like the library, the cookery school is also a natural extension of Michel's work. It is run by Michael Nizzero, who has a long history with the Roux family, having been the first senior sous chef at the Waterside Inn before accompanying Michel on many international projects.

The school includes six professional workstations and a large demonstration kitchen. Alain is keen to stress that although it will be used for cookery classes and demonstrations, the school is also an internal training resource. "It's a space I wanted to use as much as I could, not only in terms of the business and paying guests, but as a space for our front of house, kitchen and pastry teams."

He adds that he had previously run a cookery school with his father, but that was in a small kitchen with only room for demonstration and little space for practical work.

"We did a few lessons together, but after that he would just pop in to enjoy a glass of wine or add the cherry to the cake," he recalls. "At some point he left me to run it, but it was such a small area that people couldn't have their own kitchen space, so I was showing people one at a time.

"With dad we would have loved to take it further but didn't have the opportunity. Here the idea was to bring that back. What else could I have done in dad's kitchen? I know he would have loved it and, for me, it's a space that we've utilised as best we could."

In the school the front of house team might be given demonstrations and practical lessons on carving a turbot or chicken on the guéridon, dressing a cheese trolley or practicing flambé. They will also take part in tastings to better understand the Waterside Inn dishes.

For the kitchen brigade, Alain says the opportunities are limitless. "I made sure that the first course I did here was with our apprentices," he says. "Everyone suffered in the pandemic, but the worst affected I think were the 14- to 25-year-old generation. They missed some great years and had a hard time passing their exams. When they started their working life many were rejected or disappointed, when what they needed was help and motivation.

"They might take part in one-to-ones or we could take a group of chefs through a dish on the menu from beginning to end," Alain explains. "Otherwise, they might take two or three years to do it working on a section. We can talk about the dish, the ingredients, the suppliers. We really want to create an in-house training programme. It doesn't need to be recognised as such by an educational establishment, but we know a few things and we love to share."

For Alain the development is an extension of Michel's passion for sharing a love of gastronomy and his desire to encourage the widest possible audience to appreciate food, but it also represents Alain's own willingness to engage the next generation.

"I've never seen or felt that gap in that generation before as we saw after the pandemic," he says. "So I decided to do my best when we managed to get back to work. I opened my business and invited people from any background in for paid work experience – from one day up to one week. Just opening the door and greeting them and showing them what we do."

Although he recognises that the family name can put people off, since they might have preconceptions about stepping into a restaurant with Roux over the door, he acknowledges that the family dynamic tends to make for a unique experience. Certainly his respect, love and admiration for his father is obvious in this celebration of his life manifested in a facility dedicated to passing on knowledge and furthering culinary understanding.

"I will always miss his guidance," Alain admits. "We did 10 years in the kitchen side by side and after that another 10 when he was an ambassador for the business. But he was always there for us, offering his opinion. It was invaluable and what made the restaurant continue.

"Like any family business, it wasn't easy every day, but we used to enjoy each other's company, respect each other and complete each other. I will cherish those years."

Who is cookery school chef instructor Michael Nizzero?

The cookery school is being run by Michael Nizzero, who has a long history with the Roux family. He was the Waterside Inn's first senior sous chef, working alongside Alain.

When he left the Waterside Inn in 2011 to join the Hostellerie La Briqueterie in Vinay, France, where he earned it a Michelin star as executive chef de cuisine, Nizzero maintained ties with the Roux family. So after spells at the Ritz London and Bath Priory, the call of this project was too strong.

"Michael did many promotions with dad abroad," Alain explains. "He loved working at the Waterside and was one of my dad's protégés. They got on extremely well. When I spoke to him about this project I knew I wanted to offer him the position.

"He know what the family is about and can talk for hours about dad. He's got some great memories – and some hard ones. He's caught the bug of loving to teach people and share."

Alain Roux on… Skindles and the squeezed middle

Alain Roux opened Skindles, a restaurant along the Thames in Taplow offering accessible bistro food, in 2018. But with the pandemic stifling its growth and input costs putting pressure on the bottom line, Alain sympathises with fellow operators trying to stay afloat.

"It has been a struggle since the pandemic but we're hanging on," he says. "Things are really difficult. We all know you can't put the prices on the menu up to compensate.

"We're lucky that we're a settled business at the Waterside Inn and doing well. But I'm not surprised to hear about so many businesses closing. Running a business like Skindles is costing money now. We can hardly raise prices, but the cost of everything is going up and our employees need to be looked after too. So it's a vicious circle.

"Demand at the Waterside Inn is as strong as ever. People still have the money to spoil themselves and have the best of the best with the food, service, wine and accommodation. But any restaurant in the mid-market you can feel it and see it – places close and it's sad."