Drakes Restaurant in the Surrey village of Ripley has been renamed The Clock House following the divorce of chef Steve Drake and his former wife Serina.

Serina now owns the restaurant, with the kitchen run by head chef Fred Clapperton. She said the distinctive Georgian building on Ripley high street has always had the Clock House as part of its name, “so it was the obvious choice”.

Steve has announced plans to open a new restaurant early this summer in Dorking, to be called Sorrel after his favourite ingredient. It is on the site of the former Little Dudley House restaurant in South Street, which closed down in May last year.

Founded in 2004, Drakes in Ripley earned consistent high praise from the Harden’s Survey for its “adventurous” tasting menus and “memorable” cooking.

Steve has good memories of Dorking, having opened his first restaurant under his own name there, Drakes on the Pond.