Glynn Purnell has announced the shock closure of his high-achieving Birmingham restaurant Purnells – number two in the Harden’s 100 list of Britain’s best restaurants as recently as 2022. Known as ‘the Yummy Brummie’, Glynn pitched his flagship in the business quarter very much as a culinary expression of his native city. He had given no […]

Continue reading


Nottingham chef Louisa Ellis, a past winner of MasterChef: The Professionals, has launched a ‘food and event-focused’ project in a former Methodist church in the city. Destination 105, in Lady Bay’s Trent Boulevard, does not operate as a conventional restaurant. Instead, it hosts one-off ‘dining experiences’ ranging from tasting menus, three-course menus and Sunday dinners […]

Continue reading


A South African-inspired restaurant serving ambitious cuisine at accessible prices has opened in the south Birmingham suburb of Stirchley. Riverine Rabbit, set in a low-key shopping parade on Pershore Road, is named after an endangered species that lives in South Africa’s Karoo Desert – signifying chef Ash Valenzuela-Heeger’s commitment to supporting sustainable farming practices. Ash trained […]

Continue reading


Leading Birmingham chef Glynn Purnell has opened a tapas bar a street away from his flagship, Purnell’s, in the city’s business district. Plates by Purnell’s occupies the former site of Spanish restaurant Pinchos on Edmund Street. Last year Glynn, aka ‘the Yummy Brummie’, opened The Mount pub in Henley-on-Arden, his first venture outside the Birmingham, […]

Continue reading