20 Stories chef director, Aiden Byrne, steps down

Aiden Byrne

Renowned chef Aiden Byrne has left as chef director at D&D London’s 20 Stories in Manchester’s business district.

He joined the No 1 Spinningfields restaurant in March this year, having left Manchester House last year to take over at 20 Stories.

Des Gunewardena, chief executive of D&D London, expressed his thanks to Mr Byrne, who, at 22, was the youngest chef in the UK to be awarded a Michelin star.

He said: “We are really pleased with what we have created at 20 Stories; it got off to the most incredible start and every day goes from strength to strength.

“Revenues have been way above our expectations.

“Aiden has obviously played a significant part in the success of 20 Stories and we would like to thank him very much for his contribution.

“We offer him our very best wishes for the future.”

20 Stories offers a 104-cover fine-dining restaurant, an 80-cover grill, a 50-cover standing bar and a 14-cover private dining room.

Mr Byrne owns Lymm gastropub The Church Green.

When 20 Stories opened in March he said his role there was “one of the most exciting things I’ve ever done”.

He added: “At 45 years of age I like to think I’ve got a pretty good oversight on my guests and what Manchester wants. We’re bringing another level of dining to Manchester. We aim to be a lifestyle destination and accessible for the majority of Manchester to join us.”

D&D London is owned by Des Gunewardena and David Loewi and was born from a buyout in 2006 of Conran Restaurants where they both worked for 15 and 11 years, respectively.

The company has 37 restaurants and one hotel in the UK and four restaurants overseas.

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