Above a window shop, in a leafy and unassuming stretch of the city, sits one of the most storied premium restaurants the city has to offer. It’s welcomed thousands of guests under various owners across its near 40-year history, but has always retained its quality, currently holding three AA rosettes and a Michelin Guide listing, if you’re into that sort of thing.
But for the team and current driving force at Rafters, Head Chef Dan Conlon and Restaurant Manager Ben Ward, it’s about taking the restaurant to the next level and making it somewhere they would want to come and eat as much as work.
“I think in the past year we’ve really tried to up the level and focus on what we are as a restaurant,” says Dan. “There’s been a switch in us.”
The restaurant is still owned by Alistair Myers, who took sole control in 2024, but it is testament to the trust Dan and Ben have built that they are now the face of the restaurant, entrusted with taking it forward.
An objective they are quietly confident about achieving. Despite their reticence to get in front of our cameras, when they talk about the restaurant, the food and the service, there’s an assuredness and, more importantly, a vision for what the future holds for the Oakbrook Road establishment.
“I’d say we’ve come into our own in the last couple of years,” Dan reflects. “The last 18 months has been a real change where we’ve tried to adapt and move forward.”
There is, perhaps, still a preconception that Rafters is a stuffy space, stuck in the 2000s. Having sat down for their 10-course tasting menu, I can tell you the service and environment are far from stiff, while the food is blisteringly innovative and incredibly tasty.
It’s not about trying to feel like some version of The Bear, although Ben has the appropriate piercings, tats and tunnels. For both Dan and Ben, it’s been about softening the edges while taking regulars who expect a certain experience on that journey with them.
“People think we’re this stiff, old-school restaurant,” Dan says. “But we want people to feel comfortable. We don’t want people to sit there in silence. We want them to come with friends, dress how they want and enjoy it.”
Ben is even more direct: “We’re just a premium restaurant served by down to earth people that care about it.”
That shift hasn’t come overnight. Both have effectively grown up in the restaurant. Dan joined in 2014 and worked his way through the ranks, while Ben first stepped into Rafters as a 16-year-old pot washer before returning years later and rising to restaurant manager. Promoted into their current roles in 2020, it’s only in the past 18 months that things have really clicked.
“We want it to make it feel more comfortable… it’s just what feels right for us. How do we want to be served? How do we want to eat?” explains Ben.
Part of that has been shaking off the weight of reputation. Rafters has long been known as a go-to for special occasions – a place to impress, a place to behave. That legacy still lingers.
“It was always known as that Valentine’s restaurant,” Dan says. “The fancy restaurant in Sheffield. And we are a good restaurant, but we’re not a fancy restaurant as such.”
“I do sometimes think people think they can’t come,” Ben adds. “Like they haven’t got a suit or a nice dress. That’s not what this is.”
Instead, what they’re building feels more personal – a reflection of two people who have spent over a decade learning not just how a restaurant should run, but how it should feel.
The food follows a similar philosophy. There’s a clear grounding in British produce, but not in a way that feels rigid or forced.
“British where possible,” Dan says. “We’ll use what’s best on the island, but I take influence from everywhere. We’ve got Southeast Asian dishes, we’ve had Indian influences, American barbecue. It’s not just one thing.”
That balance defines the menu. Local ingredients, global ideas, filtered through a kitchen that clearly enjoys what it’s doing. Snacks arrive quickly and confidently – small bites packed with flavour – before moving into dishes built around strong proteins and even stronger sauces. It’s thoughtful without being overworked, creative without tipping into gimmick.
Out front, the approach is just as considered.
“For me, it’s about the guest not having to ask for anything,” Ben says. “From hanging your coat when you arrive, to never letting your glass be empty. Just being there, looking after them from start to finish.”
There’s an intensity to that level of service, but it never feels overbearing. Instead, it allows the room to do what it’s meant to do.
“You’re here to make memories,” Dan says. “You don’t want to think about what’s going on outside. You’re here for the evening, and to enjoy it.”
That idea of an evening is important. Rafters is not somewhere you drop into for a quick bite. It’s somewhere you settle into – curtains drawn, the outside world softened, the pace deliberately slowed.
“You kind of forget where you are,” Ben says. “You’re above a shop on a crossroads, but you don’t feel like that. You just relax into it.”
Crucially, the changes are landing.
“People say it’s better every time they come,” Ben says.
“You get that comment a lot,” Dan adds. “‘We came six months ago, a year ago, and it’s improved.’”
And for new diners, the reaction is often one of surprise.
“They’ll say, ‘I drive past all the time, I didn’t know it was like this,’” Ben says.
Which, in many ways, is the point.
For all its history and accolades, Rafters is no longer content to be defined by what it was. What Dan and Ben are building feels quieter than a full rebrand, but more meaningful than one too – a gradual, confident shift into something that reflects the people running it now.
“I think we’re on the path,” Dan says. “I don’t think we’re there yet, but we’re moving.”
