Paul A Young,
Award-Winning Chocolatier,
Appearing Sunday 13th + 2 x Chocolate Masterclasses on Saturday 12th
Paul has been named one of the world’s finest master chocolatiers and one of the best in the UK since opening his first chocolaterie in 2006. He is known for his innovation, creative flavour combinations and his approachable way of making chocolate part of anyone’s cooking repertoire.
Yorkshire-born Paul a Young grew up in Trimdon Station a small ex-mining village in the northeast of England.
Paul trained to be a chef at New College Durham after leaving school and falling in love with baking with his mum and grandmother his love of all things sweet started at a very young age.
Paul gained his first head chef role at Alice Blossom’s restaurant, Whitby in 1994 aged 21 and with plans to become a pastry chef Paul headed to Leeds where he worked with City Catering Chef Agency to find his perfect role.
In 1996 Paul was offered a role as pastry chef at Marco Pierre Whites Criterion Brasserie in London’s Piccadilly. Paul successfully worked for Marco for 6 years with pastry chef roles at Titanic, The Oak Room and a head pastry chef role at Quo Vadis on Dean Street in Soho.
Seeking a better work-life balance Paul gained a role with The Recipe Dish Company developing Chinese and Japanese ready meals for Marks and Spencer, then an offer from Sainsbury’s to develop their pizza range at Katies Kitchen saw Paul nominated for 2 awards at the PAPA (Pizza And Pasta Awards) for his new pizza range.
Paul’s love of pastry led him to head up the pastry team at La Rascasse Restaurant in London’s Mayfair.
With a passion for TV Paul gained his first live TV opportunity and was a regular chef on Great/Good Food Live with UKTV Food with subsequent appearances on This Morning, Alan Titchmarsh, Sunday Brunch, Saturday Kitchen, The Apprentice, Blue Peter, The Sweet Makers, Snack Masters, Top Chef US to name a few.
As a freelance chef Paul developed desserts for Serious Desserts creating handmade desserts for Waitrose, he Was head chef at the Cutting Edge School of Food and Wine in East Sussex and began teaching patisserie classes from his home kitchen.
In 2004 Paul moved into chocolate with a passion for innovation and worked freelance with Pierre Marcolini UK, Charbonnel et Walker and Paul’s first chocolate commission was for Rococo chocolates for the first National Chocolate Week in 2005.
In 2005 Paul was the first chocolatier to win a gold award in the Academy of Chocolate Awards for his sea-salted caramel, Paul also won gold and silver awards for chocolates that would be part of his first chocolate collection at his new chocolate shop Paul.a.Young Fine Chocolates on Islington’s Camden Passage, London.
Paul won Best New Chocolate Shop, three awards for innovation in the chocolate industry and has won numerous awards for his chocolate creations which led to the opening of three further chocolateries in Central London.
His first book Adventures with Chocolate won Best Chocolate Book in the World at the Paris Gourmand World Cookbook Awards and was nominated for an Andre Simon award.
Paul has four books, Adventures with Chocolate, Sensational Chocolate, How to Make Chocolates and The Joy of Chocolate.
In 2022 Paul launched Chocolate at Home, one-to-one hands-on masterclasses from Paul’s home kitchen teaching all the fundamentals of chocolate making and in March 2025 Paul launches his dedicated Chocolate At Home studio in Stone, Staffordshire where all masterclasses and chocolate events will be held.