Ben combines his skills as a chef with a sound grasp of the commercial realities of running a pub or restaurant business, a relatively rare combination which enables him to offer effective, practical advice to operators. I have regularly used comments and advice from Ben in articles designed to help operators develop their food business, as well as working with him on activities including cookery demonstrations at trade events, and judging for The Publican Awards, where his insight into the businesses under scrutiny was invaluable. Ben was a stalwart member of the Beer and Food Matching Panel which I assembled for The Publican, regularly providing interesting and imaginative matching suggestions for a very popular regular feature in the magazine’s food pages. On a personal level, my barbecue skills have been improved immensely by the opportunity to learn from the Master!