It started in Vancouver.
I’d always been interested in food and cooking, but in 2004 I embraced haute cuisine, in the sense of food conceived as an aesthetic form of art. Focus on ingredient selection, interesting flavour/texture combinations, complex multi-component dishes, multi-course (six to ten) dinners for friends… though that’s not to say all my cooking was (or is) orientated that way.
Returning from life in Vancouver, a city with a justified reputation for high quality value-for-money top-end fine dining and an accompanying wine focus, I felt inspired to hone some new creations. Captivated by the philosophies of fusion cooking, nouvelle cuisine, seasonality, and high class presentation, I began to develop complete multi-course menus.
The overall aim was to create food which was refined and attractive, as well as being innovative and challenging.
With the significant North American influence, I was initially inspired by chefs as Rob Feenie (Lumière) and Thomas Keller(surely no reference required 
) but soon after broadened dish concepts to utilise local British ingredients and became influenced by Heston Blumenthal, Pierre Gagnard, Hervé This and David Everitt-Matthias. Blogs like Ideas In Food and Studio Kitchen provided great inspiration too.
Development was driven by a passion for cooking (which sounds silly now, but only because it’s become a cliché in today’s ridiculous celebrity chef pop-cooking-culture), crafting/artistry, anal retention to perfectionism (within the confines of limited equipment etc), and (perhaps most importantly) cooking for friends.