Head Chef - Mike Riordan

He progressed to Commis Chef and after 2 years moved to the North Lakes Hotel as part of the opening team.

In 1988, he made his first trip to Bristol, as Head Chef at the Black Sheep pub, further promotions to bigger properties saw him return to the north - working at the Crown Hotel and back at the North Lakes Hotel. Here he began lecturing at the local college, both to raise the hotel's profile, and allow him the opportunity to ‘get in first’ with the cream of the students in a recruitment drive!

Mike returned to the Aztec Hotel and Spa, with his family in tow in 2001, in his words ‘a bigger and more challenging adventure’. During this time Mike has helped with the development of the new conference café concept, the Lodge On the Park and now the Quarter Jacks re-launch.

He has continued to lecture here in the southwest, with the City of Bristol College, and is a founder member of the Bristol Chefs Forum. He also took pride in mentoring the Bristol Junior Chef Competition winner for 2005. He has supported the development of our Sous Chef, Ryan, who was runner up in the Bristol Young Chef of the Year and one of our trainee chefs - who has this year won his way through to the finals of the Gordon Ramsay Scholarship.

Mike has developed and grown with Shire Hotels, always retaining his sense of humour and passion for the product and his people.