He’s been dishing up delicious fare at some of the region’s best-known eateries for more than 20 years.

Now Mike Parkinson is striking out on his own – with a little help from family members – running Parky’s Bistro in Milnsbridge.

Mike, 37, who hails from Bradford and now lives at Fixby, says: “I have been in the catering industry for 22 years. My family were a huge influence in my career choice – especially my gran.

“She introduced me to cooking when I was getting under her feet in the kitchen and things progressed from there!

“I did a YTS scheme in catering which involved day release at Bradford College and four days working at the Novotel Hotel in Bradford. I worked with an ex-army chef. It was hard work, but I enjoyed it.

“I got a scholarship to work for two years in Normandy. I worked at the local Novotel for a while and then at a small restaurant in the town centre, living above a bakery. It gave me a respect for food which has stuck with me ever since. The French take their food seriously! Again, it was hard work. I was trainee commis chef and I was there to learn. We would work long hours every week in the kitchen.”

Returning to Britain, Mike got a job at Dudley House Hotel in Scotland. The hotel was a sister operation to the more famous Gleneagles Hotel and Mike often found himself working there as well. He spent 18 months there – working with a chef who was a colleague at the Novotel – before moving on. As Mike acknowledges, it’s a fact of life in the hospitality sector that to get ahead you have to keep moving!

Next, Mike worked at the Holiday Inn at Brighouse – then one of Trusthouse Forte’s flagship hotels. “The head chef there was very helpful to me,” he says. “What he didn’t know about food wasn’t worth knowing.” When the head chef left, he asked Mike to join his staff working at a restaurant in Jersey.

Later, Mike returned to the mainland and Yorkshire to work at Bertie’s in Elland, where he spent three years before moving to the Springfield Park Hotel at Kirkburton. “By the time I left after two years the restaurant was full every night,” he says.

Mike went back to Bertie’s Banqueting Rooms briefly before taking up a prestige posting at the Royal Bank of Scotland in Manchester – where he provided fine dining for business lunches and dinners where the conversation revolved around bull markets and multi-million pound deals.

“I went for a three-day trial to see if I would enjoy it,” he says. “I was there for two years. We worked from 7am to 4pm and again from 7pm to midnight. I was living in Huddersfield and commuting every day.”

A serious sports injury forced Mike to rethink his career. “I broke my kneecap and damaged my ligaments doing taekwando,” he says. “I was in plaster from my thigh to my ankle and there was no way I could stand all day in the kitchen, so I went into teaching.

“I trained at Kirklees College and taught at Merseyside College in Liverpool, which was totally different for me. It seemed really strange.

Mike Parkinson at Parky's Bistro, Home Mill, Britannia Road, Milnsbridge

“I stayed there for about a year, but it was a nightmare commute, so I got a job at Kirklees College in the restaurant kitchen, working particularly with the students.”

As his leg got stronger, Mike was able to return to the kitchen in earnest, helping out other catering firms and doing outside catering for himself. But he was really looking for a place of his own.

The opportunity came when he met Ashley Lindsay, director of furniture store Lindsay’s Allsorts, who had embarked on a major overhaul of the business, based in a sprawling mill at Britannia Road, Milnsbridge, to form @HomeMills. The idea of setting up a bistro to complement the improvements Ashley was making to expand his offering chimed with Mike.

Now he is running Parky’s Bistro to provide shoppers with a reason to linger as they look for three-piece suites, dining sets and giftware.

“I could see the scope and vision that Ashley had for the mill and we set the ball rolling,” says Mike. “I wanted the bistro to be welcoming so people could come in and feel relaxed. I wanted people to feel as though they were walking into their own home.”

Popular dishes range from meatloaf and sea bass to duck, but Mike puts as much effort into creating a lunchtime sandwich as a three course dinner. “Our ethos is all about having high standards and serving good quality food cooked really well,” he says.

Helping behind the scenes is Mike’s wife Georgia – who teaches cake decorating and baking at Thomas Danby College in Leeds – and youngest son Jack, 15.

Just a few months into the business and Parky’s Bistro is already getting noticed for all the right reasons – with a number one spot on TripAdvisor and a crop of positive comments to its credit.

“We are very busy on Fridays and weekends,” says Mike. “We were fully booked for Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day and we got busier throughout January.”

When time allows, Mike likes walking pet dog Polly in the woods near the family’s Fixby home and around the local reservoirs.

Sticking with the sporting theme, the family also enjoys camping holidays in Cornwall to go surfing and bodyboarding.

Despite the injury to his leg, Mike still takes part in martial arts – although he has no ambitions to compete for silverware.

“I do it for the fun of it,” he says, “I go with a few mates and there’s a social thing to it. I’m at the bistro six days a week, so I need an hour a week where I don’t need to think of anything except getting any aggression out of my system!

“Everyone needs a release from the pressures of life.”

Role: Owner and chef

Age: 37

Family: Married to Georgia with sons

Matthew, 19, and Jack, 15

Holidays: We go to Cornwall where we enjoy camping, surfing and bodyboarding

Car: Skoda Fabia

First job: Washing up in a pub kitchen when I was 14

Best thing about the job? I enjoy the people. It’s nice to know that your standards are appreciated

Worst thing about the job? There aren’t enough hours in the day to get everything done!

Business tip: Be true to yourself and don’t let go of your vision. I had a clear vision when I came here about what I wanted to achieve.
Don t lose sight of your goals

Site: Stanley Mill, Britannia Road, Milnsbridge

Phone: 01484 961906

Email: parky.106@hotmail.com

Web: www.homemills.com/parkysbistro/