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"let's
get personal"
Tilleys Bistro is owned by Dave (me) and Dawn Mott.
We first met each other in 1974 whilst studying catering
at Bath Technical College. Two years later after passing,
(with credits) the three certificates we had been studying
for, we left college to do real work. We worked in
various restaurants and hotels over the next seven years
covering all aspects of the Hotel and Restaurant industry.
The first Tilleys
In
May 1981 we were married in Paulton (near Bath) and in May
1983 we opened our first Tilleys Bistro in Argyle Street,
Bath. Reluctantly we sold the premises in May 1987 after
four very successful years and an offer we couldn't refuse.
The
second and current Tilleys
The
next five years were very frustrating as we searched for
a freehold property. However patience prevailed when a property
developer friend of ours told us of an old, almost derelict
building in the centre of Bath, which could possibly be
converted into a restaurant but wasn't actually for sale.
After three months of negotiating we finally agreed a price
and a sale.
On
October 15th 1991
we bought the premises at 3 North Parade Passage. The next
eight weeks were a race against time to convert the basement
and ground floor into a 50 seater restaurant and a kitchen;
which met current E.C. regulations and criteria, as well
as satisfying the listed buildings department. On December
22nd 1991 the second Tilleys Bistro opened with two full
time chefs, at the time of writing (early February 1998)
we employ seven full time chefs.
Our
Family
In between all of this we have been fortunate enough
to have had two children, our eldest is Emma, who was born
in September 1985; and our youngest is Daniel, who was born
in February 1991.
Written
by Dave Mott (co-proprietor Tilleys Bistro), 2nd February
1998.
The
philosophy behind Tilleys Philosophy
You may have thought that philosophy is strictly the domain
of philosophers. To a greater extent we agree. We have
no intention of challenging the likes of Descartes, Sartre,
Nietsche or even Aristote. Existentialist food is not
what we are prescribing.
However . . . underlying the success of Tilleys is a philosophy
that focuses on providing, fresh, quality food at affordable
prices. We have never favoured the 'Nouvelle Cuisine'
approach to food. We believe that eating in a restaurant
should be an informal and affordable experience, very
much in tune with the traditional style of French country
cuisine.
If this is too concise, then read on and we'll explain
the reasoning behind
'Tilleys Philosophy' 'The gospel according to
Mott'
"My aim was to create a flexible menu that offered
top quality fresh food at prices affordable to everyone"
As you may already be aware, at Tilleys we don't have
any main courses available (see our Menus
section). Instead we offer an extensive selection of starters
(about 40). In the next few paragraphs I will try, briefly,
to explain my thinking behind this approach.
By 1983 my wife and I had been in catering for 10 years
and we were ready to 'go it alone' and open our own restaurant.
The type of cuisine I was going to cook was fairly obvious
- I had studied and cooked in the classic French style
as well as picking up many influences working with Greek
Cypriots, Italians, Spanish, Lebanese and Palestinians.
What concerned me most . . .was opening a new business
and basically reproducing what was already quite widely
available.
I wanted three things:
-
To
have a menu that was broadly French in its style and
of a very high quality, but selling at about half the
price of my competitors!!
-
My
food to be available to all of the general public and
not just those who were high wage earners.
- My
regular customers to eat at Tilleys weekly or fortnightly,
not 4 times a year or only on special occasions.
Culinary
frustrations
Something that used to frustrate me was the format in which
meals were (and still are) eaten i.e. a starter, followed
by a main course with at least 2 vegetables and potatoes,
followed by a dessert and coffee. "What
really annoyed me was the attitude of most restaurateurs",
quite often you could get away with missing out on the starters
and/or the pudding, but just try missing out on the main
course.
Nowadays things aren't quite so bad, mainly due to the immense
competition amongst restaurants, particularly in Bath. ".
. . . for the times they are a changin' . . . . "
by 1983 eating habits (certainly in the south of England)
were changing quite quickly.
Some of the reasons for this change are: Most people travelled
abroad every year for their holidays and were becoming increasingly
aware of different foods and flavours. Supermarkets were
producing a huge variety of pre-cooked foreign foods of
a good standard at relatively cheap prices.
Nutritional information was widely available, the general
public were becoming aware of what was good for them; and
it wasn't "a good blow out!" Quantity was no longer
the main criteria, the general public were far more aware
of their personal health and were looking for healthy options
when eating out.
Vegetarians were no longer a weirdo minority. "The acceptable
face of vegetarianism was arriving and it wasn't going to
go away" (currently 30% of all Tilleys evening a la
carte sales are vegetarian - and we don't make any effort
to promote our vegetarian menu).
You don't have to be a vegetarian to eat vegetarian food.
Perhaps most importantly though the standard of living had
increased considerably, we were all becoming wealthier and
healthier. Expectations had changed from those of the 60's
and 70's but restaurants hadn't, the exception to this was
'Nouvelle cuisine'. Great food, flavours and presentation
but at ridiculously high prices.
How many of those out of town country houses selling that
type of food still do so? Armed with these thoughts and
ideas I set about trying to create a "flexible menu".
The first casualty was the concept of having to eat a main
course; in my opinion it was old fashioned and out of date
so main courses were replaced with even more starters.
The second casualty was the cold starter (most restaurants
today offer mainly cold starters - next time you go to your
favourite restaurant see if I'm right) so the main courses
were replaced with a large selection of warm and hot dishes
- but still starters.
The third casualty was the wine list. Practically all restaurants
offer 3 house wines - usually a dry white, a medium white
and a red, why? Because they want you to spend more on the
wine you would prefer.
At Tilleys we offer 10 house wines, 4 dry whites, 1 medium
dry white, 1 medium white and 4 reds, all have been carefully
selected and represent in my opinion, good value at under
£10 a bottle.
Initially we encountered problems trying to market our ideas,
but over a period of 10-12 months we gradually won through
and acquired a good, loyal and regular clientele from which
to go forward. Our regular customers now use our restaurant
to suit themselves (which is exactly what I wanted).
Some days they will come and have one starter, a glass of
wine and a coffee (£7 - £9) and another day they may have
3 starters, a pudding, a coffee, a bottle of wine and a
glass of port (£30 - £40).
The beauty of the menu is in its flexibility, the customer
chooses exactly what he or she wants, there is no obligation
to choose anything else. What is important here is that
the customer has had what they wanted and will almost certainly
return again.
Written
by Dave Mott, 10 February 1998.
A
brief History
of the Premises Currently Known as "Tilleys Bistro"
3 North Parade Passage, Bath.
The
following paragraph was cited to me by local historian
Elizabeth Holland in November 1991
The
kitchens and refectory of a Benedictine monastery often
lay on the south side of a square around the cloisters.
Judging by the postulated cloisters in the Royal Commission
for Historic Monuments map of Medieval and Roman Bath,
the refectory and kitchens would have lain along the site
of North Parade Passage, or hard by it. One would expect
there to be monastic remains below ground
.
An ancient map, published circa 1610 but drawn in the
1570's shows no sign of buildings anywhere near (what
is now) North Parade Passage. So, at some stage in the
history of this site, the kitchens fell into disrepair
and probably collapsed or were destroyed; I think this
may well have happened during the reign of King Henry
VIII and the dissolution of the monasteries.
The area in which North Parade Passage and York Street
now stand, was called, after the dissolution, "the Upper
Abbey Orchard". There are no buildings shown or mentioned
on the map or any lease (currently known to historians)
referring to the orchard, before the 1620's. John Hall
of Bradford, who owned the land, gave out a set of building
leases in 1622.
Buildings were to be erected in the Abbey Orchard. There
was no mention of existing buildings, with the exception
of a newly completed building on the eastern end of the
current Huntsman Public house site.
So there we have it, a row of Jacobean houses was built
(2) and Jacobean remains are still in existence. In the
basement of Tilleys is an old Jacobean stone staircase
rising to the ground floor. It all became the inheritance
of a young girl, Rachel Baynton or Bayntun, who later
became Countess of Kingston. Her son, the second Duke,
became the owner, after she died in 1722, in the mid 18th
Century was part of the estate of a Duke.
We were told when we bought the premises, from the previous
owners who ran it as a stamp shop for some 20 years, that
at some time in its life, the premise had been a public
house and that a woman of ill repute who used to ply her
trade there was murdered on the premises one night by
a jealous lover.
As far as I am aware, no one has seen a ghost yet, but
there is an awful lot of creaking and groaning in these
old houses, especially late at night and in the early
morning!
Written by
Dave Mott, 3rd February 1998, who gratefully acknowledges
the information provided by Elizabeth Holland.
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