William Gleave

Lineage in kitchen craft is built through repetition, pressure, and different room temperatures, and William Gleave moved through a set of kitchens that each asked something different of the work: Garagistes in Tasmania, P Franco, Bright in London Fields, Peg, Hill & Szrok in Broadway Market as resident chef, and Brawn in Hackney as chef. The sequence reads as accumulation rather than noise, with each post adding another layer to a career built in characterful, exacting rooms. Today, that accumulated work sits behind William Gleave’s chef patron role at Sargasso (since 2025), where the title matches the scale of responsibility.

At Sargasso in Margate, United Kingdom, the chef-patron role places William Gleave on the coast and inside a working brief that is clear about its limits. The move is framed by his own words: “I’m excited to move to the coast and team up with Ed and Josie, whom I deeply respect.” Seasonality is the other organising principle. “As the seasons change, I look forward to introducing fresh ideas.” That keeps the restaurant in step with time and place, without padding the plate or overexplaining the method.

After years as chef and head chef, the chef-patron title marks a wider remit, but the focus stays narrow: cooking by the sea, focusing on seafood, and leaving enough room for the ingredient to carry the point.

William's signature dishes include soused sardines on toast, fried courgette flower and Cantabrian anchovy, scallops and garlic butter, squid sandwich, and chorizo sandwich.

The most visible marker in Gleave’s public profile is the chef-patron position in Margate. It follows the head-chef years at Hill & Szrok in London and a run of chef roles across Australia and London. No award needs to be added for the arc to read. The recognition sits in the responsibility: Garagistes in Tasmania, then East London and Hackney kitchens, then Sargasso, with restraint and care stated plainly as working principles.