Cooking up a storm at the Albion

New chef at the Albion, Robert Grimshaw

New chef Robert Grimshaw has seen the Albion Freehouse amp; Bistro on Whitworth Road turn around its fortunes in just a few weeks since he became head chef. The award winning chef has livened up the menu and the locals have been quick to respond, turning up en masse to sample the fine food and quality guest ales, helping on the route to restoring the Albion to its former glory as one the town's top pub eateries.

Robert Grimshaw's pedigree as an award winning chef has added some life, or as the man himself termed it, 'given a kick up the backside', to the menu. He said: "It's been a quick turnaround in the three weeks I've been here. The Albion had a good reputation for its food and drink but slowly things started to go wrong. Things have really come back up to standard in the last couple of weeks and a lot of the former 'locals' have returned to eat and drink here.

"We've got a new menu and a range of guest ales on and everything has picked up very quickly."

The top chef is hoping to build on this early success by hosting a range of events at the pub, from a steak house menu to wine tasting sessions, from champagne amp; lobster evenings to Gourmet nights. He said: "We hope to make these events a success by keeping up our high standards. All of our food is made fresh on site; we do our own butchering and fish mongering and we mince our own beef. Our aim is to win awards for the food here and for the guest ales."

Robert trained at Paul Heathcote's School of Excellence, earning a Level 4 NVQ. He went on to work at Selfridges in Manchester and then at the Michelin Starred restaurant at the Tortworth Court Hotel in South Gloucestershire. He moved from there to the Royal Venue at Cleveleys, a triple award winning restaurant where he worked for three years.

Robert's accolades include winning Young Chef of the Year in 1998 and 2001, the Good Food Guide Gold Accolade in 2004/05 and Rumsons Silver Plate Chef Award in 2006.

After spending some time travelling Robert has returned to Rochdale to turn the Albion into his home and good place for people to eat and drink.

Working alongside Robert is a second chef, Andy McKay, who brings with him four years of experience working at Nutter's Restaurant in Norden, adding to the culinary excellence that the Albion has to offer.

The good times seem set to return to the popular Whitworth Road pub.