Oliver Peyton

Oliver Peyton (born 26 September 1961) is an Irish restaurateur and judge on the BBC television series Great British Menu.

Biography

Oliver Peyton was born in Swinford, County Mayo, Ireland.

He attended Summerhill College, Sligo where he completed his Leaving Certificate with one honour. After leaving school Peyton headed to New York, "I spent six or seven months in New York. I got jobs, first of all digging artesian wells, then as a roofer with some very rough, tough guys. I'd get up at five to start at 6am, and these guys would immediately open a six- pack for breakfast." Perhaps more interestingly, he also worked as a waiter in New York, before returning home in 1979 to start a scholarship at attended Leicester Polytechnic to study Textiles - he left after two years.

Nightclubs and restaurants

"restaurants should be about having fun"

In the 1980s, he opened two nightclubs - The Can in Brighton (with DJ Fatboy Slim) and RAW in London - and in the mid-1980s imported Sapporo Beer and Absolut Vodka. Peyton owned a number of famous restaurants including the Atlantic Bar and Grill off Piccadilly Circus (closed 2005); Air (Manchester closed 2000), Mash (closed 2000); Isola (sold 2004 after being merged with Osteria d'Isola) and the Admiralty restaurant and function rooms at Somerset House.

In 2006 Peyton's company Peyton and Byrne (of which he is Chairman), sold their events catering division Gruppo Events, to listed catering company Compass Group for £3.6m. After this the company changed direction, opening up a series of restaurants within famous London landmarks including; Inn the Park, located in St. James's Royal Park (opened 2004); The National Dining Rooms and National Cafe, at The National Gallery; The Wallace Collection; Meals Heals and The ICA Bar & Cafe Institute of Contemporary Arts. In addition Peyton and Byrne also have cafe/bakery outlets at Heals, The British Library, St Pancras International station and Wellcome Collection. Peyton and Byrne, is run by his sisters Siobhan and Caitrióna and Marie and in addition to the restaurants, cafes and bakers also has an events division, Peyton Events.

Publications and Media work

Peyton is a well-known media figure in the UK, via both his work with the BBC and other media and speaking engagements, where he has been known to make controversial claims, such as:

• 'Catering colleges are basically a stop-off before you're sent to prison. They're a disgrace.’
• 'People say you have to sell Coca-Cola. Why do you have to? It's a disgusting drink and it rots your insides. Smoke and take heroin instead - it's better for you.' Horticultural Trade Association's catering conference in 2007

In late 2008, Peyton published his first cook book, The National Cookbook, in conjunction with the National Gallery (ISBN 9781857094275). The theme is the marriage of food and art, with over 100 modern British recipes alongside many of the National Gallery's most famous works.

Peyton has an upcoming Irish TV series on RTÉ, called, Recipe For Success, where amateur cooks compete for the opportunity to turn one of their recipes into a product sold by a major Irish supermarket chain Supervalu.

He is one of the judges on BBC2's Great British Menu programme.

Peyton is represented by Roche Communications and J Gurnett Personal Management.

References

• BBC program directory with links to the series The Great British Menu
• Corporate Website with basic biography
• RTE Ireland producer and broadcaster of the Recipe for Success series
• article from The Independent, detailing Peyton's career
• A review of The national Cookbook on the Visit London website
• 'A lot on Peyton's plate', article from The Independent, Ireland
• Caterer Search magazine article, The 100 most influential people in catering
• Caterer Search magazine article with controversial cliams made to the Horticultural Trade Association's catering conference in 2007
• Irish Examiner article about RTE's Recipe for Success series, which mentions that a schooolboy is one of the contestants

External links

• Official site
• Peyton and Byrne
• Peyton Events
• Inn The Park
• The Wallace Restaurant
• The National Cafe
• The National Dining Rooms
• The ICA Cafe and Bar
• Interview with Oliver Peyton on Hot Dinners 2009

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Name	Peyton, Oliver
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Date of birth	1963
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