One of the district’s most famous eateries was hailed as “the number one restaurant in the north of England” as it celebrates its 50th anniversary.

Celebrity chef Marco Pierre White returned to the Michelin-starred Box Tree in Ilkley yesterday and was able to reminisce about the restaurant where he first worked as a 17-year-old in the late 70s under the tutelage of owners and founders Malcolm Reid and Colin Long, who set up the business in 1962.

Now a business associate and friend of current owners, Simon and Rena Gueller, he hailed the restaurant which helped shape his career.

“It’s an institution and it is without doubt the number one restaurant in the north of England,” Mr White said.

“ If you go back to the 70s it was one of only four restaurants in the whole of Great Britain to have two stars from Michelin.”