Robbie Millar (26 April 1967 – 13 August 2005) was a head chef and restaurateur from Ballycarry in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. Millar started his career at restaurants in

Corfu Corfu (, ) or Kerkyra ( el, Κέρκυρα, Kérkyra, , ; ; la, Corcyra.) is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea, of the Ionian Islands, and, including its small satellite islands, forms the margin of the northwestern frontier of Greece. The isl ...

, Zurich and London before returning to Northern Ireland to work in Paul Rankin's ''Roscoff'' restaurant in Belfast. While at ''Roscoff'' he met his future wife Shirley, who managed the restaurant. In 1994 he opened

Shanks Restaurant Shanks Restaurant was a restaurant located in Bangor, Northern Ireland, that was awarded one Michelin star each year in the period 1996–2005. It became one of Northern Ireland's top restaurants, alongside Cayenne and Deane's. Shanks restauran ...

at the Blackwood golf centre, part of the Clandeboye Estate in Bangor. In 1996 the restaurant was awarded 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 establishments. The acquisition or loss of a ...

, an award it held for ten years. Other awards include the Egon Ronay Guide Newcomer of the Year in 1995 and three Automobile Association rosettes. Millar was columnist for the ''

Belfast Telegraph The ''Belfast Telegraph'' is a daily newspaper published in Belfast, Northern Ireland, by Independent News & Media. Its editor is Eoin Brannigan. Reflecting its unionist tradition, the paper has historically been "favoured by the Protestant po ...

'' and made regular television appearances as a judge on the BBC's '' MasterChef'' programme with

Lloyd Grossman Loyd Daniel Gilman Grossman (born 16 September 1950) is an American-British author, broadcaster and cultural campaigner who has mainly worked in the United Kingdom. He is well known for presenting the BBC programme ''MasterChef'' from 1990 to 20 ...

. Influenced by Rankin, ''Shanks'' had a Californian style. The interior of the restaurant was designed by Terence Conran. In August 2005 Millar was killed in a car accident on the Ballysallagh Road near Holywood,

County Down County Down () is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It covers an area of and has a population of 531,665. It borders County Antrim to the ...

. His

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left the road, hitting a fence and killing him instantly. The road is an

accident blackspot In road safety management, an accident blackspot or black spot is a place where road traffic accidents have historically been concentrated. It may have occurred for a variety of reasons, such as a sharp drop or corner in a straight road, so oncom ...

, with two other deaths in April 2006. His funeral was attended by other prominent local chefs Paul & Jeanne Rankin and Michael Deane. On 31 May 2006 the coroner's report into Millar's death was released. It found that he died of multiple injuries, mainly caused by the fence he crashed into. A road accident expert stated that if the fence had met new safety standards, Millar might have survived the crash. While his blood alcohol level was found to be marginally over the legal limit, the coroner did not find this to be a significant cause. Millar is interred in Ballycarry New Cemetery, alongside his brother Brian, who died in 1982. At the time of his death he had three young children, between one and six years old.

References

1967 births 2005 deaths People from County Antrim Chefs from Northern Ireland Road incident deaths in Northern Ireland Head chefs of Michelin starred restaurants {{NorthernIreland-bio-stub