GYNGELL, Skye (1963-2025)
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Skye Gyngell, Michelin-starred chef and early proponent of ‘local’ and ‘seasonal’
Upmarket restaurants followed Skye Gyngell’s lead, establishing their own kitchen gardens or putting vegetables’ provenance on their menus
Skye Gyngell, who has died aged 62, made her culinary reputation at the Petersham Nurseries Café, perhaps the most ramshackle eatery ever to be awarded a Michelin star; she went on to cement her status as one of the leading chefs in Britain with her restaurant Spring, housed in the old Inland Revenue headquarters at Somerset House.
When, in 2004, she launched the café at Petersham – billeted in a greenhouse at a garden centre in Richmond – she went against fashion by allowing her menu to be dictated by the ingredients to hand rather than having produce freighted in [….]
Skye Gyngell was born in Sydney on September 6 1963 and grew up in suburban Vaucluse. Her father was the broadcaster Bruce Gyngell, who in 1956 was the first person to appear on Australian television; he achieved some celebrity in Britain in the 1980s when he succeeded Greg Dyke as managing director of the floundering breakfast television franchise TV-am and saved it from bankruptcy. Skye’s mother, Ann Barr, was a well-known interior designer [….]
Skye Gyngell married, in 1989, Thomas Gore; they divorced in 1996. She is survived by their daughter, and by the daughter of her relationship with James Henderson.
Skye Gyngell, born September 6 1963, died November 22 2025