Mat Sherry returns to Northcote as head chef
The Edinburgh-born chef comes back to the Michelin-starred Lancashire hotel five years after leaving to run the kitchen at Number One at The Balmoral.
Mat Sherry has returned to Northcote, in Langho, Lancashire, as head chef, five years after leaving the Michelin-starred hotel restaurant to take charge of the kitchen at Number One at The Balmoral in Edinburgh.
Sherry, who is Edinburgh-born, spent seven years at Dominic Jack's Castle Terrace in the city before it closed during lockdown. He then joined Northcote under chef patron Lisa Goodwin-Allen and became head chef there at 26.
He left Northcote in May 2021 to lead the kitchen at Number One, which then held a Michelin star and four AA rosettes. At The Balmoral, senior sous chef John Munro was promoted to head chef in July, clearing the way for Sherry's move back to Lancashire.
A head chef leaves for Edinburgh, a sous chef steps up there, and five years on he walks back into the same Lancashire kitchen.
"It's fantastic to be back at Northcote," Sherry said. "There's a real buzz around the place, with lots happening and a clear ambition for the future."
Goodwin-Allen said Northcote has always been special because of its people, and that the hotel is always evolving. Managing director Craig Bancroft praised her 25 years at Northcote and the kitchen's 30 consecutive years holding a Michelin star.
A kitchen that keeps its people
Goodwin-Allen's own path back mirrors Sherry's. She announced in March 2025 that she was leaving Northcote after 23 years, then returned within weeks as chef patron-director once Silkstone Finance, owned by Alf and Clare Ellis, bought the hotel from The Stafford Collection.
Also joining the new leadership team is Courtney Maksymow, promoted from head of HR to hotel manager. She joined Northcote in 2019, has more than 20 years in hospitality, and has a place on the 2027 Innholder Scholarships programme.
Investment follows the return
Six bedrooms have already been refurbished, with more under way, and the hotel's Louis Roederer Room is being extended, with completion expected by Christmas. Plans for a new garden restaurant have been resubmitted to planners.
Sherry's career has run almost entirely through Edinburgh and Lancashire's two Michelin addresses. Edinburgh's own restaurant scene, where he trained and later led a kitchen, has kept pace with the Scottish capital's growing reputation for fine dining over the same years.
