Senara Restaurant in Penzance was crowned the AA Hospitality Award’s College Restaurant of the Year 2025, with Spires Restaurant in Truro achieving the runners-up award.
The training restaurants, used by around 250 professional cookery and hospitality students at Truro and Penwith College, were two of only three national finalists, including third placed The Classroom, a training restaurant at Cardiff and Vale College.
Hospitality lecturers Dean Bungay and Elly Owen travelled to London to collect the award on behalf of Truro and Penwith College at a glitzy ceremony hosted by TV and radio broadcaster and Celebrity MasterChef winner Angellica Bell at the Grosvenor Hotel.
Having not one, but two, college restaurants make the final is the icing on the cake for associate director for occupational studies at Truro and Penwith College, David Izzard, who said: “Consistently winning prestigious industry awards like this gives the students belief and confidence and fills employers and future students with the knowledge our courses are delivering the excellence in training the sector is looking for.
“This is not just a triumph of hospitality excellence, but a beacon of inspiration for our learners and a testament to the relentless dedication of our staff, whose efforts have cultivated an environment for growth, innovation, and the blossoming of future opportunities for our learners, showing that they can look, reach and go further.”
Truro and Penwith College is home to the Paul Ainsworth Academy and previous students have gained employment with companies such as the Paul Ainsworth Collection, Nathan Outlaw’s, Rick Stein’s, St Moritz Hotel and Tom Kerridge.
Spires reaches the final for the first time but it’s the second time Senara has been crowned the best in the country, as it received the prestigious AA College Restaurant of the Year Award in 2022.
