Star billing for homes near top eateries brings owners tasty special on prices

The average cost of a property near one of the prestigious eateries is 42 per cent higher than other houses in the area – with homes in two of Yorkshire’s market towns soaring above the regional average.

The highest is Ascot in Berkshire, home to Coworth Park, where house prices are 146 per cent higher than the regional average, said estate agent PrimeLocation. But the effect is not limited to towns in the South, with Pateley Bridge, in Nidderdale, revealed as having the greatest restaurant premium of any northern town – with the Yorke Arms helping to push up house prices to 137 per cent more than the rest of Yorkshire.

The trend continues in Scotland where asking prices are 133 per cent above the regional average within the town of Elie in Fife, home to Sangster’s.

Bray, in Berkshire, contains the only three-starred restaurants outside the capital – Heston Blumenthal’s Fat Duck and Alain Roux’s Waterside Inn.

The famous names help to make this already expensive patch of Home Counties higher than its regional average, and at 42 per cent the same as the national average.

Ilkley, home to Marco Pierre White’s the Box Tree, has seen its house prices increase 105 per cent above the average regional asking price in recent years.

Nigel Lewis, property analyst at PrimeLocation.com, said: “With a record-number of Michelin stars awarded last year, Britons are definitely acquiring a taste for fine dining.

“Now more than ever, Michelin-starred restaurants are popping up outside of major cities, benefiting both the appetites and the wallets of residents of smaller towns.”

The Yorke Arms in Ramsgill was recently awarded the best restaurant in Yorkshire and the North-East when it picked up the overall 14th spot in The Sunday Times Food List after it was awarded an average score of 9.57 out of 10 by diners.

The Box Tree in Ilkley followed it in the regional rankings with an average score of 9.23 out of 10.

In 2010, celebrity chef Marco Pierre White went into partnership with Box Tree owners Simon and Rena Gueller after previously training at the restaurant.