Callum Leslie has been appointed head chef at the Yorkshire-based restaurant with rooms The Black Swan while Will Lockwood has been named as head chef of his York city centre restaurant Roots.
Leslie has spent the past two and a half years at The Black Swan as senior sous chef and prior to that spent a year and a half at Sat Bains’ eponymous two Michelin-starred restaurant with rooms in Nottingham. He joined the Nottingham-based establishment in 2018, having spent a year as chef de partie with Marcus Wareing.
“Tommy has been a great mentor to me and I love working closely with him in the kitchen as well as the rest of the team,” he says. “I’m in awe of what he and his family have set up here in Oldstead - it’s a true reflection of everything our region has to offer.”
Lockwood was previously head chef at The Black Swan, a role he held for three years, having worked up from demi chef de partie. As head chef of Roots he will continue the restaurant’s approach to continually evolving its menu using ingredients grown on the Banks family’s 20-acre farm.
“I’ve worked with Tommy, his family and the team at The Black Swan almost exclusively since I left university in 2014 and am ever grateful for the experiences I’ve had to date,” says Lockwood.
“I’m excited to be back once again and play a part in the continued evolution of Roots, which is different to The Black Swan in many ways and yet centred around the same ethos, devotion to local produce and self-sufficiency that I love so much.”