The Cumbrian chef at the helm of the world’s best fine dining restaurant says he has been overwhelmed by the feedback following the announcement.
The phone is ringing off the hook at the Old Stamp House in Ambleside and chef Ryan Blackburn says his brother, Craig, who runs the front of house, has had to draft in their mother to help.
The Old Stamp House was named as the best in the world by review site TripAdvisor.
It received the accolade in the website’s annual Travellers’ Choice Awards, beating establishments in France, Japan, Mexico and Brazil.
It was named in the Best of the Best fine dining restaurants category and the award is decided by an algorithm which analyses the millions of reviews and opinions collected by the website in 12 months.
Ryan, who is modest about the title, said he has had to endure a bit of banter from his friends about it too.
“The most telling change is the type of emails we are getting from people requesting tables,” he added. “They are telling us their background story as to why they want a table.
“But we’re fully booked up for a while so we’re having to turn them down.
“It’s been busy, but the phone can only ring so many times.”
Since Freedom Day, Ryan and his staff have had another issue to contend with – the sheer number of people in Ambleside.
He added: “We’ve been getting a few last minute cancellations on a Saturday, because customers couldn’t find a place to park. There’s also the number of people out on the streets drinking and having a good time in the centre of Ambleside, which hasn’t made the village a nice place to be on a Saturday.
“Perhaps people are having too good a time, but it’s understandable and hopefully it is just the exceptional circumstances we are in.
“It’s understandable people want to get away and we are seeing the rise in staycations. But it was beginning to affect our business.”
So Ryan, Craig and the team took the decision to close on a Saturday. Instead of being open Tuesday to Saturday, the Old Stamp House now opens its doors Monday to Friday.
Ryan said: “We’re still booked up so it hasn’t made an impact and if we can help the community by not bringing another 50 people into Ambleside on a Saturday, that is good too.”
He said it is a short-term measure and the team will review it in a few months to see if the situation has changed.
He added: “Ambleside is just full of traffic and there’s nowhere to park. I don’t blame anyone for the situation and I genuinely feel for the local council and the Lake District National Park Authority – there’s nothing quick they can do, you can’t build a car park on a field outside the village.
“I feel for the residents too and when I see the roads, I do think about what would happen if there was an emergency and an ambulance had to get through.
“However, we’ve had some big businesses open that are attracting people into the village, but they don’t have any parking. That’s not helping. I just hope that it is as a result of these exceptional circumstances and it will pass.”
The Michelin starred Old Stamp House is tucked away in the former office of William Wordsworth, who was the Westmorland Distributor of Stamps for a time. It opened in 2014.
The team also picked up the UK’s number one spot in the new Date Night category, as well as coming ninth overall in the world’s list of romantic restaurants, and sister restaurant Kysty, also in Ambleside, came seventh in the UK in the same category.
Kysty, where Ryan’s sister is assistant manager, is not having the same issues as the Old Stamp House and its opening hours remain the same.
Old Stamp House rated best in world by Tripadvisor – read the story here.
