Tom Kerridge reflects on growing up without money on Gloucester council estates

Tom Kerridge, the acclaimed UK chef and television personality, has opened up about his upbringing in Gloucester, revealing what it was like to grow up in council estates with very limited financial means. As a child, Tom’s parents divorced when he was 11, after which he and his brother lived with their mother, moving between various housing estates in the area.

He told The i Paper, as part of their ‘How I manage My Money’ series, that money was simply not present in his household during those early years. “Zero, there was none there,” Kerridge said. He explained that his mother juggled two jobs to support the family, working as a council secretary during the day and doing dishwashing shifts in the evenings.

Despite these hardships, Tom said he never felt out of place. “There were so many hand-me-downs and swapsies and it wasn’t weird,” he recalled. He noted the lack of social media and limited television channels meant children at the time did not have many ways to compare their lifestyles.

Tom attended Saintbridge School in Gloucester before starting his first job as a commis chef at Calcot Manor near Tetbury in 1991, earning £7,500 a year at age 18. Since then, he has built a successful career, currently owning five restaurants, as well as a television production company, consultancy, and media business.

However, with around 200 employees depending on his ventures, Kerridge admits to feeling significant pressure to keep all his businesses thriving to support his colleagues and friends.

Financially, Tom prefers investing in property rather than stocks and shares. Now aged 53, he says he cannot yet envisage what retirement might look like. Reflecting on personal downtime, he shared a recent experience: after a small operation, he was supposed to rest for a week but found himself bored by day two, unable to understand why some people enjoy simply sitting and watching television.

In addition to his restaurants, including the two-Michelin-starred Hand and Flowers in Marlow, Tom recently engaged with fans on TikTok, answering questions about his kitchen practices. When asked which ingredients he would never use, he ruled out exotic meats like ostrich and crocodile, explaining these would never appear on his menus.