OUR STORY
Our story
Head Chef Alex Yates, aged 25, trained at Westminster Kingsway College and honed his skills at The Goring Hotel under chef Shay Cooper, experiencing Michelin-standard cooking.
General Manager Grace Yates, aged 23, has a passion for food, wine and cocktails while also having a passion for creating memorable experiences for guests.
The two together could never have realised the significance of cooking for 8 strangers at 18 and 19 years old, and what would lead them to their day to day reality of running a restaurant and kitchen together.
The Yates family's connection to food and drink spans generations, with Alex's father, David Yates, having a background in running bars across London and sourcing wines as a Wine Merchant for Balls Brothers of London.
In 2020, the Yates family took over Bowley’s at The Plough, as a community-owned and family-run restaurant in Trottiscliffe. Despite challenges during lockdown, they transformed the venue into an inviting space with a 22-cover restaurant, offering carefully crafted dishes.
The kitchen team, led by Alex, includes Sous Chef Megan Drayson, 21, and Chef de Partie Kyle, 21. The front of house team, led by Grace, features in-house Reece 23 and mixologist Callum, 26.
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The Yates family’s history with food and drink goes back many generations, beginning with William Bowley Jnr. In the mid 1800’s, William and his business partner Henry Bristow purchased a failing brewery in Bristol. They tossed a coin to decide who was going to run the business, this resulted in William Bowley Jnr taking up residence and the Bowley and Bristow United Brewery was born, later becoming the Bristol United Brewery.
William Bowley Jnr’s youngest son, Alfred took over the business after his fathers death and remained a shareholder in the Brewery until his death in the 1930’s. The Bristol United Brewery stayed in business until the 1990’s under different names.
Alfred’s son, Philip Bowley gave up studying law at Oxford University in the 1930’s and trained in malting. He subsequently became the manager of Gardner’s Ash Ales & Stout.
Gardner’s Ash Ales & Stout was later taken over by Tomson and Wotton and eventually came to fall under the Whitbread umbrella, as did most of the Kent brewery’s including The Plough.
Philip Bowley’s eldest daughter, Jane Yates, was born in the brewery house at Ash. Jane came to be known as having “beer in her blood”.
Jane’s son, David, trained in hotel and catering at Portsmouth University. He went on to spend 26 years working for ‘Balls Brothers of London’, initially working running bars across London before progressing on to senior management where he worked sourcing and buying wines as a Wine Merchant for the company.
David’s youngest son, Alex, also grew a passion for food and gastronomy. He trained at Westminster Kingsway College before spending two years working in the kitchens of the Michelin Star ‘Goring’ restaurant under Shay Cooper, experiencing and learning the precision of Michelin Star food. Whilst at the ‘Goring’, Alex worked with Rick Stein and also cooked for Her Majesty The Queen.
Alex is our resident chef at "‘Bowley’s Restaurant’ at ‘The Plough’. He has worked alongside his father, David, to create the bespoke menu of high quality food and drinks using ingredients which are fairly and locally sourced.
The plough
Sitting on a quiet lane in a quintessentially English village, The Plough history dates back to 1817, and its community rallied to save it from property developers in 2017, purchasing it for £450,000 and refurbishing it with the help of 120 villagers.
