She was training to be a nurse at the former Royal Halifax Infirmary and introduced her brother to another trainee she got friendly with, Adele Riley.
Philip, who hails from Ilkley, was working as a chef at the time at one of Bradford's best known restaurants, Clark's. He started dating Adele 22 years ago and within 12 months they were married and living in Adele's home town of Halifax.
Bradford's loss turned out to be Halifax's gain. For 40-year-old Philip has become one of Calderdale's best known and respected licensees, turning around the fortunes of two town centre bars, Bar Eleven and the former Eddisons, now called Lush.
But his biggest risk to date is his latest venture, Brasserie at the Bull in Bull Green, Halifax. Philip, who now regards Halifax as his home town and firmly believes it's time the town centre raised its game, had a vision some years ago for one of its most prominent and unmissable buildings, the Bulls Head.
The pub, housed in a four-storey building, has had a chequered history. In the 1930s, it was a tea room and a popular meeting place for local women and couples.
It was converted to a pub in the 50s and during the 80s was reputed to be one of the busiest in the whole country. However in recent times, trade diminished and when Philip bought it 12 months ago, it was run-down, had stopped trading and was becoming an eyesore.
He wanted to go back to what he does best – food – and his dream was to open a contemporary, stylish bar and restaurant those over 30 could enjoy. He firmly believes our town centre has become saturated with too many late night bars for the young.
He moved in with a team of 30-plus tradesmen in January this year and completely gutted the place, spending £1.5 million in the process. "We have rebuilt everything from the cellars upwards. There is nothing original left. We have even put in new stairs and a new entrance," says Philip, who opens Brasserie at the Bull to the public next Monday.
The building now houses a modern British gastro pub with a sophisticated and chic bar on the ground floor, and a fabulous 80-seater restaurant on the floor above.
The highlights of the restaurant are stunning art deco windows with a great view of Bull Green, a state-of-the-art, open plan kitchen, where you can watch the chefs at work and an 11-foot fish tank containing 30 marine fish. Philip is well known for being a fish fan and had a tank in Bar Eleven. He owned the pub for almost 10 years before selling last year and buying Lush, which he and Adele still own).
He has put a lot of time and effort into finding an experienced chef and says Robert Black, who worked at The Arts in Leeds, is amazing and diners will be "blown away" by his food. "Robert has worked in France and at numerous award-winning restaurants. He is into using local suppliers and his menu will change with the seasons. He will also make bread and pastries on a daily basis," says Philip, who has done most of the interior design himself and describes it as rich, dark and moody with an art deco feel.
The food will be brasserie/bistro style and range from home-made pizza and pasta to steak, lamb, duck and fish dishes. Food will also be served downstairs in the bar where one of the most popular choices is expected to be sharing plates, where drinkers get to choose from a plate full of fish/Mediterranean/
vegetarian or Yorkshire delights.
They all come with home-made bread and dipping oil and cost £6.95 and £7.75.
Philip has also gone big on wines, beers and cocktails. He has got hand pulled beers and imported lagers on draft and a choice of almost 40 different wines ranging from a house wine at £10.50, to a bottle of the finest Krug Champagne at £120.
While Philip gets all the praise for their past developments, he is the first to admit that 42-year-old Adele is his rock and has always been there in the background supporting him, and working in the bars, when she wasn't nursing. He puts their success down to their caring and hands on approach, and the fact that they pay attention to detail.
Adele will play a much bigger part in Brasserie at the Bull because she has now given up her nursing career after 25 years to work alongside her husband. And this time it will be a real family affair, because their two children, 20-year-old Lauren and 17-year-old Ryan will have roles to play. Ryan could follow in his dad's footsteps because he is doing a hospitality course at Huddersfield College while Lauren is doing nursing like her mum.
The family live in Northowram, Halifax. More than 30 staff will work at the new venture including a restaurant and bar manager.
Philip has not yet decided what to do with the top floor of the building, but says it could in time, become private dinning rooms for functions. At the moment it is used as offices while the basement has been converted to toilets with a "wow" factor.
"We want to concentrate on getting Brasserie at the Bull off the ground and are really excited by it. We feel it is just what Halifax needs and are looking forward to welcoming both old and new customers" he says.