“I think if you can get the best produce, and cook it the best you can, it speaks for itself”: Mark’s story

I was brought up around food. My mum used to have a bakery, but when I was born she started doing wedding cakes from home instead, so she’d have time for all my hospital appointments and everything. And my auntie has a restaurant, so I used to go and help out a lot. My school offered catering as an option at GCSE, so I’d done my Level 2 by the time I got to the end of Year 11.

When I was about 16, I was given tobramycin, which made me go deaf. Because of that, I went through a stage of not taking any medication, because I didn’t trust it. I used to be in and out of hospital, like two weeks every three months. But since Kaftrio, I’ve not been in hospital. I went from about 36% lung function to about 65%.

I worked in London for a while, working all hours and going in and out of hospital. Then I bought The Bull’s Head in Holymoorside when I was 24. I ran it as a pub for a bit while saving money. Then COVID hit, so I took that as an opportunity to fully convert to fine dining.

The publicity from Great British Menu has been incredible. Our website got 31,000 views in 15 minutes and then crashed. I got something like 4,500 followers on Instagram in two days. We’re taking 25% up on Christmas, every week. Today, it’s a Thursday, it’s snowing, and we’ve got 36 booked in for the tasting menu. Absolutely mental. It’s exactly what I wanted.

It was really good, but it was hard work. A couple of days before I just felt ill with the stress. Our kitchen is fully gas, and the studio is induction, so getting used to that was a bit of a headache. All the crew were wearing masks, so that was a bit difficult too, because I lip read. The crew were fantastic though. And the pressure of cooking in the time, that was quite stressful as well. But once I got used to it, I actually enjoyed it. I’d do it again, if I was asked.

I was working when it aired. I’m always working at the minute! I’ve not had a day off in three weeks. But my girlfriend made me sit down and watch it. It’s kind of cringey, seeing yourself on TV! I’ve had so many messages from people who’ve watched it. I’ve had lots of people with CF message me.

For me, nobody’s more special than anybody else. It was difficult, being in a kitchen with a camera crew, but I didn’t think about the fact that I was cooking for chefs like Tom Kerridge or Si King. If you came into the restaurant tonight for tea, I wouldn’t cook any differently. That’s what I’ve always been like. If you’re doing something as good as you can, you’re doing it as good as you can, aren’t you?

For anyone who does fine dining, a Michelin star is the ultimate goal. Great British Menu definitely exposed us to that kind of level of judgement. I don’t think it’ll happen for a while, there’s things we need to do here first. But we’re on the right path. We’re on the radar. We’re cracking on for now.

I think if you can get the best produce, and cook it the best you can, it speaks for itself. We’re so lucky where we are. There’s massive amounts of fantastic produce, so we’re all about what we can get from local farms, local woodland, every day, and how can we cook it perfectly. Our menu changes daily, inspired by what we can get from the land around us. That’s our philosophy of food.

My motto is, just get on with it. I’m quite action now, think later. I get halfway through doing stuff and then think, I probably should have read the instructions. If I want to do something, I do it, whether it’s a good idea or a bad idea. You can’t change having CF, there’s nothing you can do about it. So just crack on.

Mark Aisthorpe owns fine dining restaurant The Bull’s Head in Holymoorside, Chesterfield, and represented the North East and Yorkshire on BBC Two’s Great British Menu. Episodes are available to watch on BBC iPlayer.

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a genetic condition which causes sticky mucus to build up in the lungs and digestive system. It affects more than 10,800 people in the UK. One in 25 of us carries the faulty gene that causes it, usually without knowing. 

The COVID-19 pandemic has made common many of the everyday experiences of the CF community. The sacrifices made. The distances kept. The milestones missed. 

But while many people now look forward to a return to normality as restrictions lift, the effects of the pandemic are not over for all of us. Those with cystic fibrosis must go on experiencing them, every day. 

Because we were coughing before it went viral. 

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