ONE of the Skipton area’s most well-known former restaurateurs who had TV and pop stars flocking to his establishment in the 1970s has died at the age of 79. Giuseppe Montuori, always known as Peppe, died peacefully in Airedale Hospital after a short illness on Wednesday last week.

He was born near Naples in 1939 but spent much of his childhood living near Rome. In 1960 he arrived in England, and found work in Skipton, at Anderton’s Grill. Here he met Bridget, whose father Bill Leneghan owned Skipton Printers. They married in 1963 and had two daughters, Rebecca and Lucy. Rebecca said he developed his reputation as the perfect host at The Bull in Broughton, until in 1970 he and Bridget took over Skipton’s Bridge House guest house and transformed it into Oats Restaurant. It was frequented by members of The Hollies and stars of TV’s ‘Emmerdale,’ while Michael Palin, Fanny Craddock and Shirley Bassey also dined there. When Oats was sold in 1988 Peppe moved to Earby, and the Station Hotel, where he met his second wife Jennifer, with whom he had two daughters, Amelia and Carla.

Most recently he worked at Mario’s restaurant in Barnoldswick, where he was “one of the family,” said Rebecca. The funeral is on Monday, July 23, at 1.20pm at Waltonwrays Crematorium, followed by a celebration of his life at Mario’s.