A young star chef has started work at a top Ilkley restaurant.

Thirty-one-year-old Toby Hill - the youngest chef ever to gain a Michelin star - has taken over at the helm of the Box Tree restaurant.

He replaces Thierry LePratre-Granet after eight years, and has already stamped his style on the menu.

Madame Helena Avis, owner of the one-Michelin-star restaurant, said: "We have kept a couple of dishes that people want again and again.

"It is still French-style cuisine with a Mediterranean slant. We are very, very happy."

Mr Hill said he was delighted to have been given carte blanche to expand his ideas at the restaurant.

He said: "Madame Avis has given me every support to move forward and to improve the standards that are already here."

Mr Hill, who until last year was executive head chef at London's Halcyon Hotel, said he had no qualms about leaving the bright lights of the metropolis for Ilkley.

"I am very happy here. I am very surprised how quickly I have settled. Ilkley is a beautiful place. There is everything here.

"I did the rounds in London when I was there. It was all very interesting but I just couldn't settle down there."

He said he was happy with the area and the role he was playing.

Mr Hill, of Wells Road, is now house-hunting in the town and looking to make his move permanent.

He first came to prominence as head chef of Gordleton Mill, in Hampshire, where he earned his Michelin star in 1997 for his Provence-inspired food.

After leaving the restaurant, Mr Hill worked at Gordon Ramsay and La Tante Claire, in London, before going to Halcyon.

Box Tree recipes