Jay Halford

My name’s Jay Halford and I’m on a mission; a mission to re-educate people into realising how easy it is to make the transition into feeding their body what is so desperately craves.

My background as a chef and in catering has meant that for me, taste always comes first. I believe that you should recognise every ingredient that is used in a recipe; how they are best combined to create the ultimate taste.

Where did my journey begin? Well, my love of food began at the age of 13; I worked in a busy Italian restaurant, washing pots for what can only be described as a nutcase of a chef with a huge passion for food. It was here that I decided that upon leaving school I would complete an apprenticeship – I did and then got straight into it. I started work at Lords of the Manor, A Michelin Star restaurant close to my home in Cheltenham. There, I met a great friend, Mark; his work ethic was impressive, he showed me his dedication to food and the hard work it entailed.

I won’t lie, after two years of learning everything involved, the long hours and stress became too much. I was beginning to lose my love of being a chef – not of food though, nothing could dispel that. This was a life-changing time as it prompted me to travel the world. You can imagine the variety of foods, juicing and techniques I was exposed to – this just fuelled my love of food even further.

I realised I could still do what I loved doing but in the way that I wanted to do it. It is now a massively growing trend, with many more people now consciously thinking about their health and what they are putting into their bodies.
Returning to Cheltenham, I knew it was time to incorporate my new way of thinking into my life. A personal trainer friend of mine introduced me to raw food and clean living; I was hooked. Adopting juicing and raw foods into my life, it had a profound effect and I wanted to share this with the world. This is when ‘The Core in Cheltenham’ was created.

I continue to run the Core in Cheltenham for 4 years whilst building my personnel brand and getting myself everywhere and anywhere that would have me doing pop up restaurants and workshops. I now for the past 3 years and been very focused on retreats and consultancy catering for groups of health and wellness warriors and helping other businesses to transition to healthier food options.

I have been lucky enough to travel all over the world doing this and now I am super excited to be bring my food back to Cheltenham and host the event at the new NR Social space.

The Craven Arms is owned and run by Barbara and Sam Price. We’re a mother and son partnership who have owned The Craven Arms since 2004.

Barbara is front of house ably assisted by Jack Russell, Ben. Sam is chef.

The craven arms is set in the heart of the cotswolds and Brockhampton is home to the source of the river Cheltenham. It is a truly traditional country pub and also Jays favourite place to visit. We are very excited for this collaboration and to offer some awesome wine tasting along with some awesome food too.