Tributes pour in to the culinary great behind Sheffield institution Baldwins Omega

David Baldwin and his wife Pauline ran the banqueting suite in Brincliffe, where the quality of food and guarantee of a good night out made it a city institution, for more than 30 years before calling it a day in 2018.

He died yesterday, aged 80, at his home in Dore, and family, friends and former colleagues have shared their memories of the ‘larger than life’ character and self-taught culinary wizard who was always generous with his time and money and proved an inspiration to many young chefs.

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David grew up in Broomhall and began his culinary career as a teenager at Tuckwoods restaurant in the city centre, famously telling people how he ‘left school at 10 to four and was peeling potatoes at 10 past’.

He went on to work at the Grand Hotel and joined the Merchant Navy before running a number of pubs, including the Beehive in Hillsborough, the Wheatsheaf on Ecclesall Road, the Anglers Rest in Bamford and Sheffield Wednesday’s Hillsborough Suite.

But it is Baldwins Omega for which he is most fondly remembered, with so many customers telling how they never had a bad meal or a dull night out there, and many of the young chefs he took under his wing going on to achieve great things.

His son Ben said: “Dad was larger than life in pretty much every possible way. Family life was all about food, good wine and good times.

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“He was a brilliant father to me, my brother David and my sister Polly, and he absolutely adored his four grandchildren.

“I think the best way for him to be remembered is through the legacy of all the people he trained and mentored over the years, who’ve sent us some lovely messages and told us how much they learnt from him.”

David was a former chairman of the Restaurant Association and in 2012 was awarded an honorary doctorate by Sheffield Hallam University for services to catering and hospitality and for his charitable work with the Variety Club of Great Britain.

Ian Roberts, who worked as a DJ and later night manager at Baldwins Omega, said: “He was funny, he was noisy and he was a marvellous man if you needed anything. If ever you were in trouble he was the first man you would go to because he was that sort of bloke. I loved him to bits.

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“He could be scary, and I had a lot of bollockings off him but five minutes later we’d be sitting having a drink together as friends. He was the same with customers. He called a spade a spade.

“Since Baldwins closed, no matter where you go for a big party you sit there thinking this just doesn’t compare.

“If things were different, this would be the biggest funeral Sheffield has ever seen because everyone would want to go, but no doubt when this is all over there’ll be a big party for him.”

David was a keen sportsman, who enjoyed tennis and golf and was a life member of Sheffield Cricket Lovers’ Society.

Dorothy Betts, the society’s secretary, called him a ‘special chef and a special man’.

The society’s chairman, David Longley, said: “He was part of Sheffield’s fabric. He would come on our cricket tours to Devon with his boot full of Champagne, and he knew where all the best restaurants were.

“I remember once we went to a Chinese restaurant in Plymouth and he looked at the menu and said we’re not eating that rubbish, went straight into the kitchen and a quarter of an hour later we were eating the best Chinese meal I’ve ever had.

“He didn’t suffer fools and his swearing was something else but he would do anything for you. Whenever he was around, it was party time, and he will be missed.”

When Baldwins Omega closed, former head chef Stephen Roebuck and front of house manager Jamie Christian kept the name alive by setting up the Omega at Abbeydale Sports Club.

Jamie said: “David was a fantastic bloke who worked hard and played hard and was very generous to all his staff, taking us on wine trips to places like Burgundy.

“I remember a diner once complained about finding some shot in her pheasant and he came out effing and blinding and asked her ‘how do you think it died? Of a heart attack?’.”

Stephen said: “He was an incredible, unbelievable man, who was such an iconic chap, and it was an honour to work for him for 31 years.

“He was the ultimate at one liners. No matter what you said, he was so quick on the return.

“He was fun to be around and always had a story. No matter how many times you heard those stories, the way he told them meant they were always unique.”

Stephen told how one of his most vivid memories came during a chef’s conference at a hotel in London which he attended with David after a heavy night’s drinking with the celebrity chef Brian Turner.

“Heston Blumenthal was giving a talk about how great the catering world was in the south when this voice from the audience said ‘Baldwins Omega, Sheffield. Let me tell you, you’ve got it all wrong’.

“Heston walked up the middle of the hall and there was a big confrontation but eventually he was calmed down and he ended up saying ‘you have your opinion, I have mine’.

“There was Mr B’s way of doing everything and if you got a roasting you knew 95 per cent of the time you were wrong.

“If you read into his philosophy, which can’t have been wrong for him to be as successful as he was for so long, you could learn so much from him.

“He was the most generous, thoughtful boss you could ever hope to work for and he was the life and soul of the party. He will definitely be missed.”

Another of David’s protégés, Jamie Bosworth, described his passing as a ‘very sad day for the catering world’.

He called David, affectionately known to many as the Big ’Un, ‘an inspiration to many young chefs and a lovely, kind man’.