About Us

Our award-winning cooking school continues to go from strength to strength with every course and with every client that we welcome through The Cooking School's doors.

Our aim is simple: to offer the very best culinary experience in our beautifully designed, state-of-the-art, teaching facilities that can be appreciated whether you are new to cooking or a very experienced cook who sees the kitchen as their second home.

Every one of our courses offers the freshest ingredients and produce, all locally sourced wherever possible. These ingredients are brought to life through the skills of our tutor chef Matthew Benson-Smith who knows how to bring out the very best in both his recipes and his clients. Our courses offer something for every taste, every skill level, from effortless entertaining to specialist or themed courses covering Indian, Italian, Chinese or simply the very best of British dishes.

Our facilities are fast gaining a reputation as among the best that Britain, if not Europe, has to offer. But don't just take Gino D'Acampo, Gary Rhodes or James Martin's word for it, find out for yourself by visiting us and experiencing The Cooking School for yourself.

All surplus from The Cooking School are gifted to Focus on Food which, each year, teaches over 13,000 young people to cook and 2,500 teachers across the UK to teach cooking.

To find out more about a typical day - click here. Meet Matthew Benson-Smith, our Director and the rest of the team here.

The Cooking School at Dean Clough was opened in January 2009 following a concept developed by Anita Cormac OBE, the then leader of The Focus on Food Campaign. Celebrity Chef James Martin opened The Cooking School, which was then commemorated by a visit from Her Royal Highness, The Princess Royal, in October of that year.