White returning to Box Tree roots

The Yorkshire-born chef will be working with husband and wife team Simon and Rena Gueller, owners of the Box Tree Restaurant, on future projects at the Michelin starred eaterie.

Mr Gueller said: "Marco and I go back a long way, and with Marco cutting his teeth here at The Box Tree, he's always thought of the restaurant as his spiritual home. We're looking forward to working on exciting and innovative projects with Marco, both here at the Box Tree in Ilkley and with our Box Tree Events, our very successful outside catering business. Yes, we've got 'T's to cross and 'I's to dot, but it's going to be fun, exciting and we can't wait.

"Marco is a big ideas man and I see my job as very much being a vehicle through which to translate those ideas through to the restaurant. It is very exciting."

Mr White began his training in the kitchen at the Hotel St George in Harrogate before moving to the Box Tree.

Aged 24, he became head chef and joint owner of Harveys in Wandsworth, London, with a kitchen staff that included the young Gordon Ramsay and Heston Blumenthal.

A former pupil of Allerton High School in Leeds, he left school without any qualifications.