‘Northern hospitality’ putting Aven ‘on the map’

When Oli Martin left Hipping Hall to join Lancashire’s two AA Rosette 263 in 2021, his goal was to “become the best restaurant in Preston”.

Things had been ticking along nicely for the former MasterChef finalist, especially after rebranding to Aven and joining forces with Sean Wrest in 2023.

Oli is chef director, while Sean, who formerly worked at the likes of the Fat Duck and Maaemo, is head chef.

Aven's Journey: From Local Favourite to National Acclaim

The Lancashire and Yorkshire combo has been working well, bringing the fine dining concept to the people of Preston.

But since October last year, things have truly taken off for the restaurant, after featuring in The Times, courtesy of a positive review from renowned food critic Giles Coren. He gave Aven an overall rating of 9.67 out of 10.

Oli picked up the story from there.

“There are a lot of restaurants going through the struggle, with quiet days and launching different ideas to try and keep business flowing and ticking over. That was us a few months ago,” he told the Staff Canteen.

“There were things we were looking at changing and becoming more affordable. We started it off by launching a menu which was reduced by about £15 a head for the tasting menu, just through the summer months when we usually are quieter.

“We had a fantastic response, which really helped the restaurant to pick up a load of bookings, so we just continued at that price. From there it's been really great for us.

“Then obviously rolling on from the back of that, Giles obviously came across us and has written us a glowing review in The Times, which just sent bookings absolutely crazy. Now we’ve got to deal with everything the other way around, we've got the struggle of being too busy!”

 

 

 

 

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Sean added: “It’s sort of projected us to a different market. We’ve had a lot of people coming from London or down south, which was obviously the power of the article.

“But overall, it's a lot of local people. They've started coming and saying, ‘we didn’t even know you were here’. It's a strange one, because you think that you’re doing everything right to promote yourselves, we’ve gone through the right avenues, but something like that has really taken off.

“It’s got people from further away and obviously more local people through the door. It is brilliant. We’re in the heart of Preston, we want to be a restaurant for the community.”

Oli describes the food offering at Aven as ‘Modern British with Nordic influences’. Essentially, it is something very different to what the rest of Preston has to offer.

He said: “In the city centre, there’s a few good restaurants, but I don’t think there’s anyone cooking to the same sort of style that we’re cooking, or even offering things like tasting menus or trying to create a dining experience over just going for a meal.

“I don’t think there is anyone to compete, which I guess is what made Preston an attractive area. The closest thing to us is probably Northcote Manor, which is a good half an hour away.”

Sean added: “What I would say is it would be great if more fine dining restaurants or operators were to look at Preston and see you can have success here. It would be good for the local economy. To have more good restaurants in the area would be a really positive thing.”

Outlining what diners can expect at Aven, Oli said: “I think it's got a bit of its own style. It’s northern hospitality. That’s the soul of everything we do here.

“When people walk in the door, we want them to be able to know the faces of the staff and pop into the kitchen. We want people to feel like they can take their shoes off because they’re that comfortable here.

“It’s big and bold flavours, but at the same time, it's stuff that really just works well. It’s hyper seasonal we're just working really closely with local suppliers.”

Sean added: “Although a lot of our dishes are fine dining, they’re all based around something from a childhood memory or going to another restaurant. I feel like the food is quite relatable.”

Aven operates with a small team of eight and can cater for around 25 covers.

Now the restaurant’s business is booming, focus is on doing everything they can to strike while the iron is hot.

For example, they began the new year with a collaboration with fellow northern chef Dan Merriman, fresh off his win in the 2024 edition of MasterChef: The Professionals.

“We’re aware that it’s not going to last forever,” said Sean, when discussing the spotlight which has come from their review in The Times.

“We have to keep striving to achieve more things and stay as relevant as possible and hopefully the guests keep coming back. The more things we can achieve as a team, the more we can get our name out there.

“We can't just completely change our ethos now and start buying loads of expensive ingredients. We have to be careful with the money and with every decision we make over the next few weeks and months, make sure we are safe in a year’s time.”

 

 

 

 

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Oli concurred, explaining: “The money that we are making now is keeping everything above water, clearing everything that we had previously that we needed to clear and putting everything else back into the restaurant.

“We’ve built a new waiting area with high tables and bars. It wasn’t too much of an issue in the past, but now we have people come along too early and the table’s not ready, so have now actually got an area for them to go and sit in.

“We’re getting new thicker, luxurious curtains, to dampen the sound in the room on the busier nights. With things like this, people coming in will have a better experience. We’ll invest now whilst we have the money.”

Striving for Accessibility: Aven’s Commitment to Affordable Fine Dining

For Oli and Sean, the aims for 2025 are clear.

“Our main goal is to stay as affordable as possible. We don’t want to price anybody out,” insisted Sean.

Oli added: “We wanted to become the best restaurant in Preston to begin with and we wanted to be recognised as one of the best restaurants in Lancashire.

“The goals for us are all aligning at the moment. Things like this review 1000% helps us get towards the status of being recognised as a fantastic restaurant in Lancashire."

Sean said: “Also reviews like that gives you that confidence that we are going in the right direction, because you do doubt yourself. We’ve had weeks where it’s been a bit quiet and we go ‘are we doing something wrong?’ or ‘is the food not good enough?’. Doubts do creep in. But we are doing the right thing, it’s just the climate we’re in.”

 

 

 

 

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Oli interjected: “Once I’d mentioned to a few people that Giles had been, they said ‘I hope you’re chucking extra money on your menu then before you get busy’. I was like 'well no, because this is what we are'. We want to be affordable fine dining.

“We want people to come across and eat humble ingredients cooked in ways people haven’t had it before. We want people to have this dining experience.

“We’ve been pretty much fully booked every lunch and dinner, which is absolutely brilliant. It does show that a restaurant can work without having a star.

“You can be on a map without getting that elusive Michelin star.”