The problems of maintaining high-quality restaurants in the North West are dramatised by today’s news that Paul Kitching is to leave the region.

The mercurial chef established Juniper, in the leafy suburb of Altrincham, as arguably the most culinarily notable restaurant around Manchester (not least because he is the area’s sole prominent exponent of experimental dishes, in the style of El Bulli and the Fat Duck).

Kitching told the Manchester Evening News that he will leave in April, to pursue greater glory elsewhere. “We really wanted to stay in Altrincham but when we went out to investors they tended not to be local. We don't want to leave but we do want to move forward so we have to go where the investment is”, he told the newspaper.

The announcement looks set to inspire something approaching despair among the North West’s foodies, who are already keenly aware that Manchester city centre, in particular, lacks any Anglo/French restaurant of real note, and that all recent attempts to establish such (Mont, The Establishment) have ended in failure.

It seems likely that Juniper – currently the only Greater Manchester restaurant with a Michelin star – will carry on under a new chef, but its close association with Kitching could make for a difficult transition.