Nick Nairn (born 12 January 1959) is a Scottish

celebrity chef A celebrity chef is a kitchen chef who has become a celebrity. Today, chefs often become celebrities by presenting cookery advice and demonstrations, usually through the media of television and radio, or in Books, printed publications. While telev ...

. He became the youngest Scottish chef to win a

Michelin star The ''Michelin Guides'' ( ; ) are a series of guide books that have been published by the French tyre company Michelin since 1900. The ''Guide'' awards up to three Michelin stars for excellence to a select few restaurants in certain geographic ...

in the early 1990s.

Early life

Nairn was born in

Stirling Stirling (; ; ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in Central Belt, central Scotland, northeast of Glasgow and north-west of Edinburgh. The market town#Scotland, market town, surrounded by rich farmland, grew up connecting the roya ...

in January 1959 and grew up in the village of

Port of Menteith Port of Menteith () is a village and civil parish in the Stirling district of Scotland, the only significant settlement on the Lake of Menteith. It was established as a burgh of barony, then named simply Port (), in 1457 by King James III of Sco ...

Stirlingshire Stirlingshire or the County of Stirling ( ) is a Shires of Scotland, historic county and registration county of Scotland. Its county town is Stirling.Registers of Scotland. Publications, leaflets, Land Register Counties. It borders Perthshir ...

. He attended McLaren High School in

Callander Callander (; ) is a small town in the council area of Stirling (district), Stirling in Scotland, situated on the River Teith. The town is located in the historic county of Perthshire and is a popular tourist stop to and from the Highlands. De ...

Nicholas Cameron Abell Nairn
Frost's Scottish who's who. Retrieved 2012-04-09. before joining the merchant navy at the age of 17 in 1976.Nick Nairn Esq.
DeBretts. Retrieved 2012-04-09. He studied at the Glasgow College of Nautical Studies and served in the Merchant Navy until 1983.Battle of pots and pans: famous chefs go head to head as Ramsay comes north
Daily Record, 2011-03-16. Retrieved 2012-04-09. He now lives in

Bridge of Allan Bridge of Allan (, ), also known colloquially as ''Bofa'', is a former spa town in the Stirling (council area), Stirling council area in Scotland, just north of the city of Stirling. Overlooked by the National Wallace Monument, it lies on th ...

Work

Despite a lack of formal training, he opened his first restaurant, Braeval near

Aberfoyle Aberfoyle may refer to: * Aberfoyle, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland *Aberfoyle, Stirling Aberfoyle () is a village in the historic county and registration county of Perthshire and the council area of Stirling, Scotland. The settlement li ...

, in 1986.Chef and football legend honoured
BBC News website, 2007-06-28. Retrieved 2012-04-09.Nick Nairn
Good Food Channel profile. Retrieved 2012-04-09. The restaurant won a Michelin star in 1991,Nick Nairn
BBC Good Food profile. Retrieved 2012-04-09. making Nairn the second youngest Scottish chef to win a star behind Ross Miller who held one Michelin Star at the Champany Inn at the age of 25.Nick Nairn
BBC Food profile. Retrieved 2012-04-09. Nairn went on to open Nairns restaurant in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

in 1998 and a cook school in 2000 at Lake of Menteith. In 2003, he sold his restaurant in Glasgow to concentrate on the cookery school, although he also undertakes a range of corporate work. In 2012 he opened his second cook school, which is located in

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

.Celebrity chef Nick Nairn opens new cookery school in Scotland
, STV News. Retrieved 2013-02-20. Nairn was a regular chef on

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

's popular ''

Ready Steady Cook ''Ready Steady Cook'' is a BBC daytime TV cooking game show. It debuted on 24 October 1994 and the last original edition was broadcast on 2 February 2010. The programme was hosted by Fern Britton from 1994 until 2000 when celebrity chef Ainsley ...

'' from 1995 and presented the Wild Harvest and Island Harvest television programmes in 1996 and 1997. He co-hosted the BBC show "The Great Food Guys" showcasing Scottish food and produce with Dougie Vipond. He has written a number of books and columns for newspapers and magazines and has appeared on a range of television programmes, including a stint as the main presenter on the

BBC Scotland BBC Scotland is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcaster in Scotland. Its headquarters are in Glasgow, employing approximately 1,250 staff as of 2017, to produce 15,000 hours of television and radio programming per year. BBC Scotla ...

programme ''

Landward ''Landward'' is a long-running Scottish television programme focusing on agricultural and rural issues, produced and broadcast by BBC Scotland. Overview BBC Scotland had first produced its own farming programme, ''Farm Forum'', in 1965. This was ...

'' from 2007 to 2009.Press Office – Nick Nairn serves up new-look Landward
BBC, 2007-06-01. Retrieved 2011-04-28. In 2008 he defeated Tom Lewis in the Scottish heat of the

television series

Great British Menu ''Great British Menu'' is a BBC television series in which top British chefs compete for the chance to cook one course of a four-course banquet. Format Series one and two were presented by Jennie Bond, the former BBC Royal correspondent, where ...

. He went on to cook a main course of

roe Roe, ( ) or hard roe, is the fully ripe internal egg masses in the ovaries, or the released external egg masses, of fish and certain marine animals such as shrimp, scallop, sea urchins and squid. As a seafood, roe is used both as a cooking, c ...

venison for

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...

and 250 guests at the Mansion House for her official 80th birthday celebration. Nairn was awarded an honorary doctorate by the

University of Stirling The University of Stirling (abbreviated as Stir or Shruiglea, in post-nominals; ) is a public university in Stirling, Scotland, founded by a royal charter in 1967. It is located in the Central Belt of Scotland, built within the walled Airth ...

in 2007 for his contributions to Scottish cooking and healthy eating campaigns.TV chef Nick Nairn and Footballer Alan Hansen among Stirling summer honours
University of Stirling, June 2007. Retrieved 2012-04-09. He was awarded a second honorary doctorate from

Abertay University Abertay University () is a public university in the city of Dundee, Scotland. In 1872, Sir David Baxter, 1st Baronet of Kilmaron, left a bequest for the establishment of a mechanics' institute in Dundee and the Dundee Institute of Technology w ...

in June 2016. In December 2017 Nairn was the victim of an assault in Aberdeen. On 28 August 2021, a huge fire on a Saturday evening damaged his restaurant, Nick's, in Stirling. No casualties were reported.

References

External links

Link to Nick Nairn's cookery school website

Jisc listing of all of his publications

Nick Nairn plans to open his 2nd cookery school in Inchmarlo, Aberdeenshire
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nairn, Nick 1959 births Living people Scottish television chefs Scottish restaurateurs Head chefs of Michelin-starred restaurants