Originating from Cambridge, Andy graduated in Physics & Laser Physics from Swansea University in 1989 before moving to London to work as a process engineer for Philips in their image-intensifier department specialising in fibre-optics, vacuum and phosphorous coating technologies.

After completing a Diploma in Management Studies at the London Business School, he moved to Newcastle to take-up a position as manufacturing manager of a facility making printed circuit boards. Conceding that engineering and manufacturing was never likely to be part of his long-term future, he jumped ship and opened the critically-acclaimed Sidney’s in Tynemouth in 1999, followed by Blackfriars, a restaurant within a 13th-century former Dominican friary in the medieval heart of Newcastle, in 2001.

Andy has since gone on to open Café Peel in Dance City, Hinnies in Whitley Bay and Dobson & Parnell on Newcastle’s Quayside as well expanding Blackfriars to include a Cookery School, Banquet Hall, Tasting Room Meeting Rooms, Cloister Garden and Brewery.

Andy has served as a member of the Community Ventures Group, Grainger Town City Centre Business Forum and EAT! Newcastle-Gateshead Food Festival, has been a trustee of Fareshare North East since 2013 and is a Fellow of Durham University’s Institute of Medieval & Early Modern Studies.