BRIGHTON could soon have its first celebrity chef in the shape of Great British Menu champion Matt Gillan.

The Michelin Star winning chef is leaving the South Lodge Hotel in Lower Beeding, where he headed up The Pass restaurant, after ten years.

While his next move is being kept under wraps, the chef is believed to be negotiating a lease and preparing to launch a new restaurant in Brighton.

His replacement at The Pass was announced yesterday as Ian Swaison, a Brighton resident and decorated chef who has won Michelin stars at three separate restaurants.

In a statement Matt said his decision to leave “hasn’t been an easy one”, adding: “I feel enormously privileged and proud to have achieved so much throughout my ten years. I shall be very sad to say goodbye but the time is now right for me to move on and I am looking forward to my next venture.”

In his time at The Pass he retained a Michelin star for five years and won four AA rosettes.

Last year he gained national recognition after making the grand finals of TV’s ultimate professional completion, BBC’s Great British Menu.

His main dish ‘Teaching and Preaching’, a goat dish inspired by his mother's homeland of St Helena, was featured at a special banquet celebrating 100 years of the Women’s Institute, after receiving straight ‘ten’ scores from both the chefs and judges.

Matt has strong connections with Brighton, having recently cooked a tasting menu alongside Brighton-born London-based chef Ben Spalding at Lucky Beach Café, as well as regular appearances at the Brighton and Hove food and Drink Festival.

A formal announcement on his next venture is expected after he leaves The Pass at the end of April.

Meanwhile Ian Swaison joins The Pass from luxury country house hotel, the Samling, in Cumbria where he earned the restaurant 3 AA Rosettes and a Michelin star which he held for the last three years.

He has cooked in high-end hotels and restaurants including l’ortolan in Reading, Seaham Hall in County Durham, Le Becasse in Ludlow and Chewton Glen in Hampshire.

Ian said: “I am delighted to be joining The Pass. I am really looking forward to developing my food within such an established restaurant and cannot wait to get started.”