Help us open Hidden: a new dining experience at the site of the last fired kiln. Heritage, dining and opportunities for young people.
’ve always loved cooking. It’s a craft that allows you to explore yourself while developing skills at the same time.
When things go wrong in cooking, you have to dig deep to find the answers. Those answers lie in science, craft and technique. But in searching for them, you often learn as much about yourself as you do about the food.
That’s something I’ve experienced throughout my own career, and over time I’ve discovered how powerful it can be to share that process with other people who enter our kitchen.
For me, the true spirit of hospitality is about much more than what arrives on the plate.
While we’re creating delicious food for our guests, the people putting it together are learning live, vitally and at pace. With mentorship at the heart of the kitchen, that environment can accelerate someone’s ability to live, learn and grow — personally as well as professionally.
At the same time, our guests are exploring flavour, sharing a table and experiencing dishes that mean something to us, created in a space that means something too.
Those two things happen simultaneously. Guests experience something memorable, while behind every plate somebody is learning, developing and discovering.
For me, that’s total hospitality.
Over the years, I’ve worked with and developed people from very different backgrounds, many of whom simply needed the right environment, the right expectations and someone willing to see what they were capable of.
I’ve seen first-hand what can happen when somebody is given responsibility, encouraged to develop their craft and allowed to grow in confidence.
Our kitchen dining room is the space where those stories come alive.
Just across the corridor stands the last fired kiln, an extraordinary piece of Stoke-on-Trent’s heritage. At Hidden, we want to reignite the stories around it, bringing together heritage, culture and history with something equally important: the training and development of young people who represent our future.
Guests will arrive at the table through stories that mean something to the people here, but also to those who choose to visit and discover this incredible heritage for themselves.
This is Stoke-on-Trent on a plate.
A place of undeniable craft and distinct history, with a desire to something new through people for the future.
We’ve already taken this space a long way, investing our own time, energy and resources into bringing the kitchen dining room to life. Now we’re at the final stage, and there are some important pieces still to complete — from essential electrical work and joinery to the bespoke communal table, seating, plates, glassware and the finishing details that will make the experience whole.
That’s why we’re inviting our community to be part of this next step. Through this Crowdfunder, we’re looking to raise the funds that will help us complete the room, open the doors and begin putting everything we’ve talked about here into practice.
It’s not simply about finishing a restaurant. It’s about creating a space where people can gather around a table, experience something distinctive and, at the same time, help create opportunities for young people to learn their craft, build confidence and discover what they’re capable of.
That’s what we want Hidden to become.
A place where people can learn, develop and thrive, surrounded by the history of a place where generations before them built their lives through craft.
Funding method
Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made by 6th October 2026 at 8:00pm