Paul A Young: The top chocolatier who closed London stores and moved back to his native Yorkshire

"It was totally unplanned,” he says. “If you’d asked me a year ago if I had plans to move back to Yorkshire and the North East I’d have said no. But that's the beauty of life. There were a lot of reasons., some as a result of the pandemic and things change. I’d done it for a very long time I thoroughly loved it but after a while doing the same thing you start to lose your creativity.

"And our Islington store was coming to the end of its 15 year lease and I thought could I really do another 15 years. On top of that I had to move out of the houses I was living in. London is the most expensive I have known it. I was turning 50. My parents still live near Durham and I had been away from them for 28 years. I wanted and needed to be closer to them. I just thought where do I love ?”

He’d been visiting Staithes for 30 years and used to live in in Hinderwell and Whitby for a while on the nineties. “I knew the area and I knew it was gorgeous.”

He also had two people he knew in Staithes, the owners of Betsy & Bo deli and sweetshop in the village. “I messaged them and asked if they knew anyone who might be renting a property. They said as it happened the house above their shop was vacant and they asked if I was interested, I went to have a look and I thought why not? It’s beautiful, its inspiring and it will give me the down time I need. It’s great to be back.”

He closed the business at the end of July, moved in September accompanied by his trusty Dachshund Billington with no plans to make chocolate at all.

"It was a very difficult decision to end something after that amount of time when you are still at the top of your profession. I had no idea what I was going to do – I had no plan – and I still don’t really. Deep inside I had thought ‘I am done’ with London and working how I was. Physically and mentally, it was the right time to end the business. I am literally just going with the flow.”

Young didn’t set out to make his career in chocolate, although he always knew he’d end up in food. Born in Barnsley, he grew up in the North-East. “Growing up I was always baking with my mum and grandma and I think it was inevitable that I would end up working with food.”

After studying hotel catering and management at New College, Durham and Leeds Metropolitan University, he quickly worked through the ranks of a restaurant kitchen to the position of head pastry chef for Marco Pierre White at Quo Vadis and Criterion.

He says he ended up working with chocolate almost by accident. “My pastry career sort of morphed into a career with chocolate. It was the late 1980s and most of the chocolates available were very sweet and sickly and most of them were full or preservatives. I started making my own chocolates for my desserts and then people kept asking for them. So I decided to create some chocolates that were only made from natural, fresh ingredients.”

He entered them into the first Academy of Chocolate Awards nearly 20 years ago and did rather well. “It made me think that maybe I should specialise in chocolate and start a business.”

Young opened his first shop on Camden Passage in Islington in 2006 with his business partner James Cronin. His first book Adventures with Chocolate won the World’s Best Chocolate Book at the Gourmand Cookbook Awards in Paris, was shortlisted for the Andre Simon Award and included in the Independent’s Top 50 cookbooks.

He is also a regular on our television screens, with appearances including This Morning and Saturday Kitchen, The Apprentice and Junior MasterChef. He still plans to do television and travels to London once a month, although he admits he can’t wait to get back to the Yorkshire coast.

He is currently filming a podcast with multi Michelin-starred chef Tom Kerridge. Ten years ago he was named Outstanding British Chocolatier by the International Chocolate Awards.

Now he wants to pass on the knowledge gained over a lifetime in chocolates to others, while he decides what he will do next. Whatever it is he says it will be in the North.

“Everyone thinks I am making chocolate for Betsy and Bo in Staithes however instead I have had the joy of sharing some of my skills with their wonderful chocolatier Katy who creates all the chocolates by hand on site.. I’m consulting for a few chocolate businesses, including Marcella Extraordinary Chocolates in Knaresborough.”Rather than making chocolates he is passing on his extensive knowledge to others. “I love teaching.” However he does have a chocolate kitchen at his house in Staithes where he does one to one masterclasses, Chocolate at Home, which he does via Instagram (@paulyoungchef).

“It’s for all those people who want to make chocolates from their homes without spending thousands of pounds on equipment. I go through all the fundamentals you need to learn, taste and create to do it as a hobby or do it the next level as a side hustle – or even start a business. That’s how I started. I’m not a trained chocolatier, I started at home. So I’ve made every mistake going.”

He says he has no plans to open a a chocolate shop, although he doesn’t rule out having some sort of business in Yorkshire in the future.

“It’s just not the right time for me just yet and I don’t think it would ever just be a chocolate shop again. I want to take my time and make sure whatever I do gives something back to the area,” he said.

He is also championing local businesses and British chocolate makers, including gift shop the Pot and Pineapple in Whitby. “I went in to get a Mother’s Day card and they have a fantastic collection of British only chocolate. The whole shop is British producers and manufacturers. I’m going to see if I can help them with my knowledge of retailing.”

Despite hard economic times making people careful with money and the price of chocolate increasing, people are still buying good chocolate. “The price of cocoa is the highest it has ever been, but in my opinion chocolate has been to cheap for decades – it shouldn’t be as cheap as it has been. We have to pay more to support the farmers and the producers. It’s going to go up even more. That means we might not eat it quite as often but we will choose and be very considered about what we do buy.

"It's about educating people and I plan to hold some chocolate tasting events. Telling people what is the difference between confectionary and chocolate. Why we pay more for one than we do for the other, but its not a lecture its fun. I enjoy the fun side of chocolate.”

It is clear Young is passionate about this. “All the big brands that use vegetable oil is confectionary and shouldn’t be called chocolate, but they each have their place. I’m not a chocolate snob, but in bean to bar chocolate the only fat is cocoa butter which is expensive and why you pay more.

“In recession we do not stop eating chocolate. It is an affordable luxury, it makes people happy. Being back in Yorkshire is inspirational, and it is giving me my creativity back.”