TOP CHEF ROBERT THOMPSON SET TO OPEN NEW BAR/GRILL AND RESTAURANT IN RYDE

Chef Robert Thompson is looking to open up a new restaurant and bar/grill beside the sea in Ryde, an application submitted to the Isle of Wight Council has revealed. A licensing application shows plans to turn Royal Maritime House – located on St Thomas’ Street in the town centre – into a bar and grill named RTCafeGrill, and a restaurant called Thompson’s. Laid out over 2 floors, the café/grill would be on the ground floor with the restaurant situated on the lower ground floor – both overlooking The Solent. It was in 2006 that Thompson won his first Michelin star whilst working at Winteringham Fields in Lincolnshire, at the time becoming the youngest chef in the UK to be awarded the prestigious accolade aged just 23. His Newport-based restaurant opened in 2015 and traded successfully until 2020 when COVID-19 hit. It reopened once more in January 2023, but the building is now up for sale. No further details about this new venture in Ryde have been revealed.