The Waterside Inn Experience

A tired Thames-side pub became the unlikely home of uncompromisingly French cooking.

Brothers Michel and Albert Roux, already celebrated for Le Gavroche in London, took over a tired riverside pub in the Berkshire village of Bray. Michel assumed the kitchen, Albert the business side. The location was deliberate: a quiet stretch of the Thames, far enough from London to feel like an occasion, close enough to draw serious diners. From the start, the cooking was uncompromisingly French.

A Michelin star earned before most of Britain had warmed to French fine dining outside the capital.

Michelin awarded The Waterside Inn its first star in 1974, just two years after opening. In an era when the British dining scene was still largely indifferent to French haute cuisine outside London, the recognition confirmed what local diners already knew: something exceptional was happening in this small village on the Thames.

Two stars, two kitchens, and a generation of British chefs quietly shaped before anyone noticed.

The second star arrived in 1977, placing The Waterside Inn alongside Le Gavroche as one of only two restaurants in Britain operating at this level. The Roux brothers were, at this point, effectively running the country's fine dining education. Many of the chefs who would go on to define British cooking in the 1990s and 2000s passed through one of their two kitchens.

Forty years of three stars, unbroken; no other British restaurant comes close.

In 1985, The Waterside Inn was awarded its third Michelin star, making it one of a tiny handful of restaurants outside France to achieve the highest rating. Michel Roux's cooking, rooted in classical technique but never static, had reached a level of consistency that Michelin's inspectors could not ignore. The restaurant has held three stars continuously ever since, a record unmatched by any other restaurant in the United Kingdom.

The first British-based chef to earn France's most coveted culinary collar; the tricolore on his lapel said everything.

Michel Roux was awarded the title of Meilleur Ouvrier de France in patisserie, one of the most prestigious honours in French culinary culture. The distinction, marked by the tricolour collar worn by recipients, recognised his mastery of pastry and dessert work. He was the first British-based chef to receive the honour, a fact that carried particular weight given the traditional French scepticism about cooking standards across the Channel.

Three Michelin stars survived a generational handover; the rarest trick in fine dining.

After three decades at the pass, Michel Roux handed the kitchen to his son Alain, who had trained under his father, at Le Gavroche, and in some of France's finest kitchens. The transition was seamless. Alain maintained the classical foundations while gently modernising the repertoire, and the three Michelin stars remained firmly in place. It was a succession that many family restaurants attempt and few manage with such grace.

The tributes from Ramsay, White and Blumenthal spoke volumes; Michel Roux had remade British dining from a small village on the Thames.

Michel Roux died on 11 March 2020 at the age of 78 in Bray, the village he had made his home. The tributes from across the culinary world were immediate and heartfelt. Gordon Ramsay, Marco Pierre White, Heston Blumenthal and countless others acknowledged their debt to a man who had, alongside his brother Albert, fundamentally reshaped British dining. The Waterside Inn, his life's work, continued under Alain's stewardship.

Forty years at three stars; no other British kitchen has come close.

The Waterside Inn enters its fifty-third year holding three Michelin stars, a distinction it has maintained since 1985. No other restaurant in the UK comes close to this record. Under Alain Roux and head chef Fabrice Uhryn, the kitchen continues to serve classical French cuisine that rewards repeat visits. The terrace overlooking the Thames remains one of the finest places to eat lunch in England, particularly when the weather cooperates.