Serving the Teesside Business Community | 27
“I love restaurants, I love food, I love wine
and I love people. And it’s people that make
restaurants,” – Eugene McCoy
THE REAL
MCCOY!
Tees Business meets Teesside royalty as we talk food with Eugene McCoy of The Crathorne Arms
E
ugene McCoy isn’t one for making
grandiose statements. He’s one of the
UK’s most celebrated restaurateurs
from a family whose story is entwined
within the very history of Teesside. His
restaurants have been lauded as the UK’s
greatest and now The Crathorne Arms, his
latest venture, this time with wife Barbara
at the helm, has been voted as the region’s
best by Teesside’s business community.
“I’ve been very lucky” insists the 65-yearold as he lounges on a sofa and sips wine
within the dining room of the Crathorne
Arms, the pub-cum-restaurant he and
Barbara have lovingly reinvigorated and
nurtured over the past 18 months.
“I absolutely adore the industry, I love
restaurants, I love food, I love wine – too
much! – and I love people. And it’s people
that make restaurants.
“I love Teesside and the people here, so to
get an award that’s from them means every
bit as much as any of the national awards
we won in the past. It’s an honour. When I
told Barbara we’d been voted the best on
Teesside, she said that’s probably as good an
accolade as we could get. Our customers are
the heart of the business.
“We didn’t set out to win awards. All
we wanted was to have a nice place for
people to come out to, so we do feel quite
honoured.”
My Top 3
Russ Devereux, Devereux Transport
1. The Crathorne Arms
2. Cafe Lilli
3. The Golden Lion
Both Eugene and Barbara come from
Middlesbrough. Barbara lived most of her
young life on The Avenue in Linthorpe, while
Eugene grew up in Brookfield where the
McCoys’ neighbours included names that
have passed into Teesside folklore, including
singer Chris Rea’s family, Colliers the milk
people, the Hamiltons of legendary music
store fame and printers Boddy’s.
He was childhood friends with Rea and his
fellow rock legends Paul Rodgers and David
Coverdale. But Eugene’s journey took him
into restaurants rather than music.
“It was exactly the sort of place we
knew we could do something with.”
At the age of 16, he helped out at his
eldest brother John’s club, Mr McCoy’s in
Middlesbrough, and later the original Purple
Onion, a coffee bar run by brothers Tom and
Peter. Then, in the early 1970s, John opened
the Kirklevington Country Club – better
known as simply The Kirk – that played host
to the likes of Rod Stewart, Pink Floyd and
Jimi Hendrix. The Kirk’s restaurant attracted
the attention of Egon Ronay before Eugene,
Peter and Tom opened The Cleveland Tontine
on the A19. Eugene and Tom ran it for nearly
40 years, during which time it became one
of the most celebrated restaurants in the
country, winning the Egon Ronay Award
and later the Gourmet Society’s North East
Restaurant of the Year.
Now this new adventure means Eugene
prefers to look forward to future success.
He recalls: “When we came here, it had
been closed for six months, but it has a great
history and is a great pub in a fantastic village
run by a wonderful man, Lord Crathorne. It
was exactly the sort of place we knew we
could do something with.
“You have to work some daft hours in this
industry and you’ve got to be willing to go
the extra mile for your customers, so we’ve
worked hard and put whatever we could into
it.”
Having started again from scratch, they
have come a long way to return to their
winning ways, but both are quick to share
their praise – with Barbara’s brother Roland
Connelly for his financial advice, for the
friends who rallied around them to get the
project off the ground and with their staff.
Of head chef David Henry, Eugene crows:
“We are so fortunate to have not only a good
family man with a strong work ethic but a
fine chef with a commitment to listening and
giving the customers what they want”, while
manageress Kirstine Walton “took on the
mantle of a managerial position and has done
exceptionally well in leading a great front of
house team.”
But what about the food?
Eugene replies: “I think about food all
day and I talk about food every day with the
boys in the kitchen. You’ve got to have a
passion for doing this job. It can be English,
French, Italian, anything, but we’re not
Heston Blumenthal – we just try to put on
interesting food along with good wines and
beers. If you do that then you’re hitting your
target.”
My Top 3
Bill Scott, Wilton Group
1. The Crathorne Arms
2. Cena
3. Muse