At first sight, Tom Kerridge’s towering physique and vice-like handshake might seem at odds with his butter-soft West Country burr and bubblegum-pink sweater. But, the gentle giant claims, there are no such contradictions between his chosen profession and his politics.
He offers a warm welcome to The Hand & Flowers, the pub and restaurant he bought with his wife Beth in Marlow, Buckinghamshire, 17 years ago. Bearing two Michelin stars, it remains the flagship venue of the Tom Kerridge Group.
Kerridge stresses that it’s perfectly possible to be both a restaurateur providing the finest dining money can buy and a social campaigner helping people in food poverty. “Those two things,” he says, “can sit very, very separately.”