Paul Ainsworth

The Path

The early shaping of Paul Ainsworth’s craft runs through formal study at Southampton City College in Southampton, England, then into service under Gary Rhodes in the Square in London’s Dolphin Square (from 1998). He then worked for Gordon Ramsay at Restaurant Gordon Ramsay (until 2003), before working under Marcus Wareing at Pétrus / The Berkeley (from 2003). Taken together, those rooms map a progression through demanding British kitchens, each one adding pressure, discipline and a sharper handling of detail. The move from kitchen roles to chef-patron at Paul Ainsworth at Number 6 (since 2009), and to owner / overseer of Rojano's in the Square (since 2011), marks a shift from learning the line to shaping it. Alongside wife Emma Ainsworth at The Townhouse guest house, the work extends beyond the pass into the wider mechanics of hospitality. Paul Ainsworth’s name here stands for a set of operations that are grounded, direct and controlled, with the same attention applied whether the setting is a dining room or a guest house.

The Work Today

Cornish produce sits at the centre of the cooking associated with Rojano's in the Square and Padstow Townhouse in Padstow, Cornwall. That focus gives Paul Ainsworth’s work its clearest shape: ingredients are expected to carry the weight, and the cook’s task is to preserve that strength rather than obscure it. The result is a style that reads as clean and disciplined, with freshness and seasonality doing the main work. In Padstow, the relationship between place and plate is direct. Cornwall provides the raw material, and Paul Ainsworth’s approach keeps the line of sight clear between source and service. Rather than loading the dish with unnecessary steps, the emphasis stays on clean handling and on letting the product speak plainly. It is a way of cooking that values control without stiffness, and polish without excess. The Townhouse guest house extends that same logic into the rest of the stay. With Emma Ainsworth, Paul Ainsworth helps shape a hospitality offer that reaches beyond a single service, where the details of room and reception sit in the same conversation as the kitchen. Across Paul Ainsworth at Number 6, Rojano's in the Square and Padstow Townhouse, the common thread is consistency: care carried through every part of the experience.

In Their Words “I started out as a kitchen porter in a blue boiler suit in a hotel in Southampton and I was washing up on and off for about two years.” The line points straight to the base of the trade. Before titles and recognitions, there was the sink, the boiler suit and the repetition that teaches pace, stamina and respect for service. For any working kitchen, that kind of beginning is familiar: the craft is learned first through labour, then through control. “I’ve always loved food, ever since I was a kid.” That statement is plain, and that is why it works. It does not need embellishment to explain the long pull of the work: food was there early, before the professional kitchens, and stayed central as the career developed. In trade terms, it reads less like sentiment than continuity.

Acclaim

Paul's honors include Michelin star (2013) and AA Rosettes (four). In trade terms, those awards confirm the level at which the kitchens operate, but they do not stand apart from the rest of the record. They sit alongside the long run of roles, the opening and keeping of Paul Ainsworth at Number 6 (since 2009), and the continued work of Rojano's in the Square (since 2011) and The Townhouse guest house with Emma Ainsworth.