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Rugby player who 'died twice' opens health food restaurant in Baker Street

Dodging death: Bradley Hill now runs Simple Health Kitchen
Dodging death: Bradley Hill now runs Simple Health Kitchen

A former rugby professional has told how a rare and near-fatal spinal infection inspired him to launch a London health food restaurant.

Bradley Hill, who was a winger with Newcastle Falcons, “died twice” on the operating table. Now he has opened Simple Health Kitchen in Baker Street with a menu of “proper food, not just lettuce”, green juices, “hangover-free” cocktails, gluten-free beers and sulphide-free wine.

Five years ago Hill, who became a personal trainer after a knee injury forced him to retire from rugby, was rushed to hospital following a misdiagnosis for a “pulled muscle” in his leg.

The 32-year-old said: “I was in agony. They found an abscess pushing on the spinal cord. I went into emergency surgery. But they hadn’t found the infection and it was spreading up my spine. After another 12 hours’ surgery they found it. It was four vertebrae from reaching my brain. I died twice and was resuscitated, my lungs had collapsed. They had to open up my spine and cut away the infection, but they damaged my spinal cord.”

He was told he was paralysed from the neck down, but six months later was out of the wheelchair. “It was massively beneficial to eat healthily during recovery,” he said. “That’s where the idea for Simple Health Kitchen came from.

“In recovery you need a high B-vitamin diet to support the nervous system. There was nowhere I could get that. We came up with a concept where you could eat proper food as in a restaurant, but in a fast-food format.” He opened his first outlet in St Paul’s last year.