Two top restaurants have lost their Michelin stars
due to the fact that their award winning chefs have moved on.

The talented young chef at Winteringham Fields, Robert Thompson, 25, has gone to become head chef at Waldo's restaurant at Cliveden in Berkshire, and the Devonshire Arms at Bolton Abbey is missing Michael Wignall from its Burlington restaurant. He is now at the Latymer restaurant at the Penny Hill Park Hotel in Bagshot, Surrey.

The Devonshire's managing director, Iain Shelton, said: "We are naturally sorry not to continue flying the Michelin star flag, but it is to be expected as this award normally ceases when the person at the helm changes. We have a new head chef partnership of Peter Howarth and Bertrand Larzul who have both been with us for a number of years and are maintaining consistently high standards."

Colin and Bex McGurran had a tough act to follow when they bought Winteringham Fields from Germain and Annie Schawb in 2005, but Robert Thompson's cooking went from strength to strength and he became one of the youngest chefs in the country to win a Michelin star.

Now a former head chef at Winteringham Fields, Andrew Foster, has returned to the kitchen, cooking alongside Colin McGurran.

The restaurants in the region which retain their stars are: Fischer's at Baslow Hall, Derbyshire; The Star Inn, Harome, North Yorkshire; The Box Tree, Ilkley; Yorke Arms at Ramsgill, North Yorkshire; the Old Vicarage at Ridgeway, Sheffield.

It was disappointing not to see Anthony's in Leeds awarded a Michelin star. Anthony Flinn's cooking, inspired by Spain's El Bulli where he worked, continues to gather praise, but not from the Michelin Guide apparently.

In the latest edition of Harden's Restaurant Guide a contribution praises his "outstandingly innovative cuisine" and another comments: "Why he's not been awarded at least two Michelin stars is a mystery."