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Springsteen and Graham in surprise restaurant trip

Victoria Scheer
BBC News, Yorkshire
Norman's A group of people pose for a picture with actor Stephen Graham and Bruce Springsteen. Most of them are wearing brown aprons as they stand in a kitchen area.Norman's
The staff at Norman's in Kirkburton with celebrities Stephen Graham and Bruce Springsteen

A restaurant owner thought a table booking made for rock star Bruce Springsteen and actor Stephen Graham had been a "wind-up".

Oliver Roberts, who runs Norman's in Kirkburton, Huddersfield, said he was left even more stunned when the stars then turned up for lunch on Friday.

He said the duo had shared 10 small plates, including crab tarts and Isle of Wight tomatoes with wild garlic ice cream, which he said Graham had described as "mad Merlin stuff".

Reflecting on the "surreal" experience, he said their surprise visit — coming just days after the restaurant was awarded two AA Rosettes — had felt like "some sort of fever dream".

Graham, who recently made headlines with Netflix drama Adolescence, is due to play Springsteen's father in the biopic Deliver Me from Nowhere.

The pair met at Norman's two days after Springsteen's first of three shows at Manchester's Co-op Live, following a recommendation from a friend of Graham's wife.

'It can't really be them'

When the call for the booking came, staff at Norman's thought it was "too random to not be true", but Mr Roberts said he could not "get my head around it".

"I was absolutely adamant that it was either a wind-up or clearly wasn't going to be those two," the 31-year-old from Halifax said.

"This doesn't happen, ever. This isn't the norm."

He said their visit left everyone's mind "fried", with other guests eyeing them curiously from across the room but leaving them to enjoy their meal.

"I think everyone was in this surreal 'it can't really be them' [state]," he said.

Both celebrities showered staff in compliments and made sure to tip before leaving.

"Stephen Graham said [chef] Louis was a wizard and that the tomato dish was some 'mad Merlin stuff'," said Mr Roberts, who opened Norman's 18 months ago.

"Louis, who invented that dish, was on cloud nine for the rest of the weekend and I genuinely think he will end up getting that tattooed somewhere on him."

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