Thu. Dec 26th, 2024

Just a stone’s throw from Oxford Circus is an unexpected gem in the heart of London. Founded on solid teaching principles with a straightforward, hands-on approach, students leave Cookery School with the skills to become a confident and independent home cook.

Cookery School’s aim is to take people back to honest, homely, delicious cooking. There is nothing ‘chef-y’or fancy about our food – we simply love sharing our ideas for delicious home-made food, using common utensils that can be found in most home kitchens.Our focus is on demystifying cooking, removing jargon and bringing back solid cooking skills, using high quality, primarily organic, sustainable ingredients.

There is always plenty of opportunity to ask questions to our cookery teachers and gain understanding of supposedly tricky techniques. Every session involves tasting all the food that has been made, further enhancing your ability to become a skilled home cook.

Because of our central London location, it is much harder to be sustainable as we are not surrounded by green fields and trees,but we are delighted to be the only London cooking school to have been awarded the maximum 3 Stars for sustainability from the Sustainable Restaurant Association (SRA). All our meat, poultry, eggs, root vegetables, fruit and wines are always organic, as well as a host of other ingredients. All our classes and courses teach about seasonality and how you can be more sustainable in the home. 

We offer one-off classes, short courses and longer (professional) courses, covering all abilities and appealing to all ages. We have taught children as young as ten in the same class as someone in their eighties! We also host countless corporate team building and client entertainment events, from cooking a three-course meal together to bake-off competitions.

Classes and courses take place seven days a week, both in the daytime and evening and cover a range of cuisines and techniques. Courses include The Ultimate Baking Course,Absolute Beginners, Intermediate or Advanced levels and run over 4 days intensively or over 8 weekly evening sessions. We also have a 6-week fast track professional cooking course, called the Cook’s Certificate in Food & Wine,where attendees can gain an OCN London qualification. Classes cover everything from Spanish to sushi, or from knife skills to fish cookery so you are sure to find a course to suit you and your lifestyle.

In all of these we endeavour to make cooking as accessible as we can, enabling everyone to leave us feeling sufficiently confident to return home to make the dishes that have been learnt on their chosen course.

The classes and courses would make a superb Christmas gift for the chef in your life www.cookeryschool.co.uk/

If you're thinking of buying something recommended by us, please go via the links on our pages. When you do this we may earn a fee which supports our editorially independent, family business.

By Penny McCarthy

Penny McCarthy is a seasoned entrepreneur and co-founder of Parents News UK, a pioneering publication launched in 1993 to serve the needs of busy parents in Southwest London. Alongside her husband, Fergus McCarthy, Penny played a crucial role in the rapid expansion of the printed edition, which grew from a local startup to a widely circulated monthly publication with a reach of 192,000 copies across Kent, South London, and beyond. Under Penny’s leadership, Parents News quickly became a trusted resource for families, providing valuable information on education, entertainment, sports, and family-friendly events. Her vision helped the publication extend its influence with franchises in Northern Ireland and Cornwall, catering to a growing demand for accessible, family-oriented content. In 1997, recognising the importance of digital media, Penny spearheaded the launch of Parents News UK Online. The website initially mirrored the content of the printed editions and has since evolved into a comprehensive online resource for parents, achieving significant popularity with up to 700 daily hits. In 2017, the publication transitioned fully to an online platform, continuing to inform and engage families across the UK. Today, Penny remains deeply involved in the ongoing success of Parents News UK, focusing on innovative advertising opportunities and future growth plans. Her dedication to supporting families through accessible and practical content has made Parents News a cherished name in households across the country.

Read next