Tom Kerridge: How two Marlow pubs became the new 'Michelin star experience'

As his team celebrates the 10-year and 20-year anniversaries of his two Michelin-starred gastropubs in Marlow, well-known TV chef and restaurateur Tom Kerridge spoke to Advertiser reporter Anaka Nair about reinventing the 'Michelin star experience' and how his restaurants are a 'gateway' to fine dining.

Chef Tom Kerridge has three restaurants in Marlow – two with Michelin stars – but says the town ‘itself hasn't necessarily changed’ in the past 20 years.

“I think the fact that it now has two pubs with Michelin stars makes it recognised as a foodie space, but the town is still the same,” he told the Advertiser.

“In people's psyche, somewhere that wins Michelin stars suddenly makes people go ‘Oh it's a good place to go and eat’ and then it becomes synonymous with the town.

“You only gotta be here on a Saturday and Sunday – it's not about people eating – it's about people getting ice cream and a cup of coffee and wandering in the park and walking down the Thames.

“It's a beautiful, brilliant, wonderful little town people love visiting. It’s now got a reputation for great food and small independent restaurants and retail outlets.”

The Hand & Flowers, the only pub in the UK with two Michelin stars, is celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2025.

“We wanted to create somewhere we’d like to go on our day off, but we didn’t want to compromise on the quality of food,” said Tom about his vision in 2005.

The West Country native said Marlow had always been ‘pub and night out heavy’ and ‘you could always get something nice to eat’, but no venue provided the ‘quality level’ in a ‘comfortable environment’ he envisioned.

After an offer on a north London site fell through, Tom saw the West Street-based premises on the Greene King company website and ‘knew it was the right space’.

“Marlow [has] always been a great space and a brilliant place to open and the idea was to cook uncompromised food.

“We wanted to find a pub. I was cooking in Michelin-star restaurants, but it was all tablecloths, canapes and standard Michelin-star fare which was amazing but doesn't sit with who I am.

“As a chef, I wouldn't necessarily choose to go and eat there on my day off. I'd go to the pub.”

Tom was keen on using ‘the whole of the beast’ and opened his menu with rump steak, not fillet, adding: “There's still the shin, there’s still the oxtail, there’s still the less premium cuts.

“It was about using the same quality ingredients but looking at it from a slightly different angle.”

After winning a Michelin star within ten months of opening, the ‘hugely vibrant’ Hand & Flowers soon became ‘one of the most talked about restaurant-pub spaces in the country’. The gastropub gained a second Michelin star in 2012.

“[It was] so far in advance booked that it was so different to what we imagined or what we originally set it up to be,” added Tom.

“Although it was incredibly successful as a business at that point and it was doing very, very well, we got to a point where it wasn't representing…our town.

“There were points where I couldn't get in. My in-laws were coming for Sunday lunch and we couldn't get into our own space to have something to eat which is amazing and a brilliant problem to have.

“I love that Marlow has been so kind to us [but] we’re so desperate that The Hand, The Coach and The Butchers Tap are very much part of the Marlow community.

“I didn't want it to become separated and just become this thing down the end of the road that no one can ever go and see or be a part of.”

After lunch service one Thursday afternoon, the team made an offer on another West Street premises, and Tom's second restaurant, The Coach, opened in 2014.

“Thursday lunchtime we had one pub, by Thursday evening we had two,” the 51-year-old added.

“We opened it as one of those places that originally started as no bookings. Slightly different menus, and TV screens to watch sports. You can turn up and have a bowl of chips if that's all you want.

“All of a sudden it was giving something back to Marlow.”

Pictured: Tom Kerridge at The Coach, Marlow in February 2025. Photo by Ian Longthorne.

The Hand & Flowers sous chef Nick Beardshaw had hit a 'ceiling' and ‘was ready for his first head chef role,’ which he took at The Coach, and gained its Michelin star in 2017.

This second ‘little bit more Marlow-centric’ pub celebrated a decade in December 2024.

“We're very proud we have three pubs in Marlow and all three are very different,” said Tom.

“You have the two Michelin-starred Hand that you book in advance. It's a set price and an A La Carte menu.

“You have the one Michelin star Coach with a very flexible menu that can sometimes change daily – sometimes it might even change halfway through service – it’s a lot more fluid.

“Then we've got burgers, fries and good steaks with sport on the telly and good beer down there [at The Butcher’s Tap].

“I think Marlow is almost at saturation point in terms of hospitality businesses. We’ve got lots of different pubs, lots of different offerings whether it’s high street pizza places, or it’s [Wetherspoons] that’s just opened. We’re quite happy with where we sit.”

Tom says the British pub and food scene has ‘changed dramatically’ in the past two decades since opening The Hand & Flowers by 'stripping' away the formalities.

“The perception of Michelin stars [was] always about fine dining, tablecloths, waiters that look down at you and try to upsell expensive bottles of wine.

“Wine is important but so is beer and so is the person that brews beer.

“It's always about cost and how expensive it is rather than ingredient-led. All that pomp and ceremony…I think the great thing that pubs did is they pulled that away from the so-called fine dining scene.

“All of a sudden you can go out for tea on a Tuesday and have a Michelin star meal, but you could wear jeans and trainers or shorts and flip flops no one cares.

“I think pubs have been a big part of changing [how] people perceive great food and drink now because [it’s] more accessible.

“One of the proudest things, apart from the team of people and the Michelin stars, is that so many of our guest's first Michelin star experience is in one of our pubs because they think it's comfortable.

“I love the fact we're a gateway to people’s amazing future of fine dining and eating out and going somewhere else.”

In 2015, Sarah Hayward joined The Hand & Flowers, and two years later joined The Coach as junior sous chef.

She returned to The Coach as head chef in 2021 and was named Michelin Young Chef of the Year 2023, retaining a Michelin star since 2018.

“I don't question what's on the menu here [The Coach] because I know from over 10 years of working with Sarah, she wouldn't put anything on that she didn't care about or love or know was right,” said Tom.

“We've got a shin of beef dish at The Hand that was [on] the menu on day one. That’s slightly changed, it's grown and developed and adapted over the years. But it's still the same heart and soul since day one of opening and that's important to us.”

A ‘Classics’ menu launched at The Hand & Flowers last month, reimagining its 'iconic' dishes since opening in 2005 while a 'Greatest Hits' menu will run at The Coach throughout 2025, each dish embossed with a bespoke 10th-anniversary logo.

Rebellion Brewery has also launched two IPA beers, available at the respective restaurants, called ‘Decade’ at The Coach and 'XX' [20 in Roman numerals] at The Hand & Flowers.

Tom said the Marlow-based beer company founded in 1993 is ‘synonymous with great quality ingredients’ and ‘connected to the root of Marlow’, adding:

“They're a great business; brilliant beer and we're a one and two Michelin star pub – we should be working together.”

These local connections and collaborations are ‘unquestionably’ important for Tom Kerridge and his brand.

“When you're in hospitality and you open a business, it's always about human beings. It's not a corporate business,” he said.

“We're selling food and booze, but the reality is, it's not a corporate sell. It's a connection.

“The biggest learning curve I think we've been on over the last 20 years is understanding the different levels of pressure and how to deal with being in business as opposed to just cooking.

“The days of just enjoying being a chef... and your biggest worry is whether you’ve overcooked a piece of fish or not – it's such a lovely little world to be in.”