Oliver Peyton

Oliver Peyton (born 26 September 1961) is an Irish restaurateur and judge on the BBC television series Great British Menu.

Early life

Peyton was born and raised in County Mayo, his mother was the owner of a knitwear factory and was fond of cooking. Peyton attended Summerhill College in Sligo until he was 17 when he left home and went to New York where he was employed in a range of jobs including digging artesian wells, roofing and as a waiter. On returning home he gained a scholarship to Leicester Polytechnic college where he studied textiles.

Biography

After two years at Leicester Polytechnic Peyton moved to London and with a partner opened two nightclubs, The Can in Brighton and Raw in London. In the 1990s he moved into his real love, restaurants. He opened the Atlantic Bar & Grill in 1994 and Coast in Mayfair in 1995. These were followed by Mash and Air in Manchester. Further developments saw Mash and Air opening in London in 1998 and in 1999 Isola in Knightsbridge. In 2002 Peyton opened a restaurant, Admiralty, in Somerset House's museum and art gallery. 2004 saw the opening of In the Park, a restaurant in St James's Park. The Peyton & Byrne company was born in 2006, which led to a further development of restaurants at national establishments. National Dining Rooms and National Café at the National Gallery, a cafe at the Wellcome Collection and the Wallace restaurant at the Wallace Collection among many others across London's galleries, museums and public buildings.