Tommy’s tantalizing tongue-ticklers at Lord’s

Article posted by Coliseum, May 4^th, 2023

Image: Coliseum GSVA

British chef Tommy Banks and the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) recently announced a brand new food and drink event at the Lord’s Cricket Ground in London, England (UK) this Summer.

‘Lord’s Cricket Ground’ stated that ‘The Home of Food’ by Tommy Banks will run across the weekend of September 9^th-10^th at the iconic location in St John’s Wood. It will be the first Summer Lord’s, also known as the ‘Home of Cricket’, will open the Ground for a non-sports related event, in a bid to open up the venue to more people.

Tommy Banks is a British Michelin Star head chef. He owns Michelin-starred The Black Swan at Oldstead, Roots in York (England), and the premium food box business Made In Oldstead.

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Made In Oldstead is a premium, at-home dining experience from Tommy Banks and the team, offering multicourse menus for delivery across the United Kingdom.

The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a cricket club founded in 1787 and based since 1814 at the Lord’s Cricket Ground, which it owns, in St John’s Wood, London (UK). The club was formerly the governing body of cricket retaining considerable global influence.

The 31,100-capacity Lord’s Cricket Ground, commonly known as Lord’s, is a cricket venue in St John’s Wood, London (UK). Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and is the home of the Middlesex County Cricket Club, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), the European Cricket Council (ECC) and, until August 2005, the International Cricket Council (ICC). Lord’s is widely referred to as the ‘Home of Cricket’ and is home to the world’s oldest sporting museum.

The Middlesex County Cricket Club is one of 18 first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Middlesex which has effectively been subsumed within the ceremonial county of Greater London.

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) is the national governing body of cricket in England and Wales. It was formed on January 1^st, 1997 as a single governing body to combine the roles formerly fulfilled by the Test and County Cricket Board, the National Cricket Association and the Cricket Council.

The European Cricket Council (ECC) is an international body which oversaw cricket in European countries other than the Test-playing cricketing nation of England, the only European Full Member of the ICC for the duration of the ECC’s existence.

Dubai (UAE)-based the International Cricket Council (ICC) is the global governing body of cricket. It was founded as the Imperial Cricket Conference in 1909 by representatives from Australia, England and South Africa. It was renamed as the International Cricket Conference in 1965, and took up its current name in 1987.

An affluent district of leafy residential streets, the St John’s Wood is known for Lord’s Cricket Ground, the headquarters of English cricket and a venue for domestic and international matches. The Beatles made many recordings at the Abbey Road Studios and fans use the crosswalk outside to recreate the iconic album cover for photo ops. Boutique stores and chic eateries dot the St John’s Wood High Street.

‘Lord’s Cricket Ground’ further stated that the Yorkshire-based Chef Tommy Banks who runs restaurants – ‘The Black Swan’ at Oldstead (village in England), ‘Roots’ in York (both Michelin-starred) as well as The Edrich* located at the Lord’s Cricket Ground promises an unforgettable weekend of gastronomy featuring some of the United Kingdom’s best chefs and food trucks, as well as a unique opportunity to explore the historical ground in North-West London.

Visitors will be able to experience the culinary delights of Irish Chef Richard Corrigan who runs Bentley’s Oyster Bar & Grill (seafood restaurant in London), Chef and Author Selin Kiazim of Oklava fame (Oklava is a Turkish rolling pin used to make Gozleme [a delicious stuffed flatbread] and other thin Turkish dough desserts), Gareth Ward of two Michelin-starred Ynyshir (the most highly-awarded restaurant) in Wales (and voted UK’s best restaurant at the 2022 Estrella Damm National Restaurant Awards) as well as Northcote’s (four-star hotel) Lisa Goodwin-Allen (British Chef), and Opheem’s (Michelin starred Indian fine dining restaurant) Aktar Islam (Chef and Owner of Opheem).

‘The Home of Food’ will also see Chefs Nokx Majozi and Liam Fauchard-Newman of Rosewood London’s Holborn Dining Room (British restaurant) bring their celebrated pies to Lord’s for the weekend. There will be treats from local, New York style deli Panzer’s – who have served the St John’s Wood community since 1944, with many more names to be announced in due course.

FULL CHEF LINE-UP

‘The Home of Food’ will play host to family-friendly events including cricket taster sessions and cooking lessons for little ones, behind-the- scenes tours of the Ground from expert guides and more. In addition, some of Tommy’s chef friends will be making special one-off guest appearances to demo their favorite dishes. There will also be bookable experiences, tastings and banquets including a Sunday Lunch from Tommy’s soon-to-open Yorkshire pub The Abbey Inn within the impressive Grade II-listed Pavilion.

Asserted Andy Muggleton, Commercial Director at MCC, “The Lord’s Cricket Ground is one of the most loved sports venues by fans across the world. We wanted to open up the Ground and be able to welcome more people to enjoy the magic it has to offer. At the MCC, history and heritage are prevalent but we’re also looking to the future and this new venture is a very exciting part of that. Lord’s is famous for its world-class food enjoyed by cricketers and visitors alike and this new partnership and two-day event will bring that experience to the masses.”

Born and bred in a small North Yorkshire village, Tommy’s first passion in life was cricket and he dreamt of becoming a professional cricketer. Life, however, took him in a different direction with his natural culinary talents leading him to swap cricket whites to chef whites.

Tommy, Chef Owner of The Banks Group, added: “I have been mad about cricket from a young age and always dreamed of one day becoming a professional cricketer. Alas! life has carried me to the kitchen and food, but I couldn’t be happier to be working with the team at such an historic and iconic cricket ground on the launch of their first food event. In recent years, we’ve run some fantastic events together but the launch of ‘The Home of Food’ gives me the chance to bring some of my favorite peers from the hospitality industry to Lord’s, to showcase their amazing food and drink. In the same way that cricket crosses borders, food is a theme celebrated so widely across the world, and we’ve got some fantastic chefs coming for the weekend to showcase their culinary talent. I can’t wait!”

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