Mamba awards 2019
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(Image credit: Credit Unknown)

Internationally acclaimed restaurant The Harrow at Little Bedwyn will serve its last customers on 28 March.

The restaurant near Marlborough in Wiltshire, owned by Roger and Sue Jones, received its first Michelin star in 2006 and retained it for 12 consecutive years.

Sue, who runs front of house, said of the decision: ‘It has not been easy… but we feel we have achieved everything we can – and more – and that it is time to move on to other things.’

The Harrow closes

Sue and Roger Jones
(Image credit: Credit Unknown)

Roger will now focus on wine judging, writing and consultancy, while both will continue their charity work with Ty Hafan, a hospice for life-limited children, and Anna Victorious, a rowing challenge across Atlantic to support young women and their families through cancer.

He told The Buyer: ‘The kitchen shift may be over, but I certainly have not finished on the wine side. Even though I will be turning 60 next year, the slippers are not coming out quite yet.’

Known for its extensive wine list, particularly of Australian, South African and New Zealand wines, The Harrow has twice won the AA Wine List of the Year as well as AA Restaurant of the Year among its many industry awards.

The Jones’ have also set up several wine events in the UK as well as Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, and their love of the Cape in particular saw them create their Jones Family Collection wine label there four years ago.

From humble beginnings working on a caravan site in West Wales, Roger became the youngest ever head chef to run state banquets at the Guildhall in London and has also cooked for the Queen and former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

Tina Gellie
Content Director

Tina Gellie has worked for Decanter since 2008 across a number of editorial roles and is currently the brand's Content Director. An awarded wine writer and editor, she won several scholarships on the way to getting her WSET Diploma, and is a freeman of The Worshipful Company of Distillers. She has worked in wine publishing since 2003, including as Deputy Editor and Acting Editor of Wine International. Before her wine career she was a newspaper journalist for broadsheets in London and Australia.