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Skof Chef Tom Barnes Brings Warmth and Precision to Fine Dining in Manchester

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Chef Tom Barnes. Courtesy Cristian Barnett

From the moment Tom Barnes walked into the building that is now Skof, he knew it was meant to be. Barnes and his mentor, Simon Rogan, had been looking at sites around Manchester for 18 months, but nothing seemed to fit Barnes’ vision for his debut restaurant. 

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“A lot of them were amazing,” he says, speaking to Observer from the restaurant’s light-filled dining room in June. “But they were too big for what we wanted. One day, we came to look at a site across the road from here, and the guy showing us around said he wanted to show us something else that hadn’t been listed anywhere online yet. As soon as I walked in, I knew this was it. It just felt right for the first time.”

Although the restaurant was only a shell at the time, Barnes saw potential in its exposed brick walls and open layout. Signing the lease and renovating the building, located in Manchester’s NOMA neighborhood, took another year and a half after they’d found the space. 

Skof finally opened its doors on May 29, 2024, quickly earning accolades like “Newcomer of the Year” at the Manchester Food and Drink Awards and then a Michelin star in 2025. 

It was a long opening process, but worth it in the end. Courtesy Cristian Barnett

“A lot of people in Manchester have really been rooting for us since the beginning,” Barnes says. “Getting a star was amazing. Obviously, I was buzzing for myself and for the team and for all the hard work they put in. But also for all the guests, who were really happy to bring another starred restaurant to Manchester because they got behind us and supported us. There were loads of positive things and awards I didn’t see coming, especially not this early on.”

Having a solo restaurant has been a long-held dream for Barnes, who grew up in Barrow-in-Furness, England. He didn’t enjoy the classroom setting of school and didn’t have a plan for what to do when he graduated—something that frustrated his mom. Barnes had always enjoyed cooking with his grandma, so his mother suggested he take a part-time kitchen job at a nearby hotel called Trinity House on Saturdays. “I loved it,” he remembers. “It wasn’t something I’d thought about doing as a profession, but as soon as I got into the kitchen, it was the first time I felt naturally gifted at anything.”

Barnes was 15 when he started at Trinity House, and at 16, he went straight into a full-time apprenticeship at Lakeside Hotel in the Lake District. The head chef there,

© Observer