Inside Cheltenham's Most Exciting Restaurant: A conversation with Helen & Jon Howe, Lumiere
- James Massoud
- Oct 7
- 4 min read
Michelin starred Lumiere in Cheltenham has become one of the UK’s most compelling fine-dining destinations; a hyper-seasonal restaurant powered by a 3.5-acre kitchen garden, thoughtful service and a sustainability ethos that runs from beehives to a four-day week. Co-owners Helen and Jon Howe talk exclusively to The Knife about resilience, mentoring the next generation, and why signature moments like the Tequila Slammer and Meadowland Smoked Eel keep guests coming back.
What have been the toughest moments in Lumiere’s journey, and what kept you going?
Helen: When Jon broke his ankle on holiday in 2019! The surgeon ordered 12 weeks off and, as a tiny team, if Jon isn’t in the kitchen we can’t open. We discovered business interruption insurance doesn’t cover a chef-owner being out – a big shock for a self-funded restaurant.
Jon: A former colleague stepped in so we could reopen, and our community rallied; customers bought gift vouchers, suppliers extended terms. That goodwill kept the team paid and the lights on.
How do you go about creating that “dinner party hosted by close friends” feeling for guests?
Helen: We built the restaurant we’d most like to visit. Eight tables, genuine warmth, and a team who are part of the family. We’re sharing food we’ve grown and Jon has cooked – that authenticity is infectious.
Jon: It was literally our dining room for years; that intimacy still guides everything.
Your kitchen garden started as a lockdown project and is now central to Lumiere’s identity. Can you talk about its growth and how it’s changed the way you run the restaurant?
Helen: We wanted to get our niece and nephew outside, so we began a veg patch… then ordered a “small” polytunnel and accidentally bought a six-metre-by-60-foot one. We embraced it: no-dig beds, compost, and now an orchard, beehives, worm farms and wildflower banks. It lets us harvest on Tuesday/Wednesday and cook it within hours, you can taste that difference.
What do these elements of the garden add to the menu and the restaurant’s ethos?
Helen: Biodiversity. The meadow supports pollinators; the bees give stunning honeys that change with the season; worm farms produce fine, nutrient-rich compost to balance our larger static pile.
Jon: That ecosystem quietly elevates the plate.
Can you give an example of a dish that wouldn’t exist without the garden?
Jon: Honey madeleines on the petits fours – designed to showcase our own honey. One harvest leans savoury from nearby rapeseed; the summer honey bursts with fruit blossom and dandelion. Same bees, same place, totally different flavour.
Sustainability isn’t a bolt-on for you, what’s moved the needle most?
Helen: Fifteen years of conscious decisions, not one grand gesture: an all-induction kitchen (cut energy ~37%), rigorous recycling and food-waste separation, and supply-chain choices that favour native breeds and good farming.
Jon: It’s about the right decision for the product and planet, not performative “zero-waste” gimmicks.
Mentoring matters at Lumiere. How do you make hospitality a credible long-term career for young people?
Jon: We take on students and apprentices, give them real responsibility and a sane rota; we’ve run a four-day week for over a decade. We also guide parents, who can be wary. The industry’s changed, you can build a rich life here.
Helen: Apprenticeships are brilliant: three to four days learning on the job, one day academic. You see confidence click.
Helen, you spent a decade as a biomedical scientist. What crosses over?
Helen: Obsessive attention to detail and remembering that each "sample" belongs to a person, just as every plate matters to a guest. That mindset shapes training, hygiene and service; not box-ticking, but understanding why.
You’ve been vocal about women in hospitality. Where are the barriers?
Helen: Often the media. Journalists still default to interviewing the head chef – usually male – even when the business is co-led. Michelin says stars are for the restaurant, yet they ask for the head chef on stage. There are countless women running dining rooms and businesses; representation needs a reset.
Two Lumiere icons: the Tequila Slammer and Meadowland Smoked Eel. How do you keep them playful yet refined?
Jon: Both evolve constantly. The Tequila Slammer’s had a dozen iterations in 14 years; the core idea – a palate-cleansing, physiologically smart reset – stays, the theatrics refine. The eel dish has shifted as our produce changed: spiral-roasted Red Desire potatoes from the garden, our sea vegetables, caviar; same flavour DNA, new textures and precision.
How would you describe Cheltenham’s dining at the moment?
Helen: Cheltenham's dining scene is thriving! Two Michelin starred restaurants in one town [including Lumiere], serious bistros, brilliant indie bars and bakeries, even certified Kobe beef. Festivals, races, taprooms – it’s a genuine weekend destination.
Jon: During lockdown we formed a hospitality WhatsApp group; it still solves problems in real time. There’s real community here.
What’s next for Lumiere?
Jon: Continuous evolution: menus that move with what our suppliers have today, cheese boards that change with seasons, marginal-gains sustainability (more recycling than general waste).
Helen: A subtle design refresh to inject more colour and energy, and bringing our young mentee into a formal apprenticeship. Always respect, hospitality and heart.
