British Top Chef In Financial Trouble

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed)
Feb 8th 2009 at 7:02PM

British celebrity chef Antony Worrall Thompson is the latest to feel the recession pinch. His company AWT Restaurants Ltd. went into administration last Friday. BBC News reports that he has had to shut four restaurants, making 60 employees redundant. He has had to use his personal savings to help hold on to two other restaurants, Windsor Grill and the Kew Grill, and a delicatessen, WIndsor Larder. The company went into receivership after Worrall Thompson failed to raise £200,000 from his bank (he was unwilling to offer his home as a guarantee to the bank). He has appeared on the BBC shows Food And Drink and Ready Steady Cook.

Just last week, we heard reports that chef Gordon Ramsay may also be facing trouble with diminished bookings in his restaurants and a £10million outstanding loan to Gordon Ramsay Holdings with the Royal Bank of Scotland.

Tags: antony worrall thompson, AntonyWorrallThompson, awt, chef

Filed under: Dining

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

Jason Feb 9th 2009 7:47PM

Most of these companies were in trouble well before the current economic troubles surfaced. Circuit City, Linens & Things and Sharper Image have all been in a downward trend for years. Their respective direct competitors: Best Buy, Bed Bath & Beyond and Brookstone- should become much stronger. And in theory should actually help correct the economic problems we see today.

bostonbutt Feb 9th 2009 11:05PM

you make it sound like a crime to infuse your own money to make your business work

Bob Feb 9th 2009 11:19PM

I can't believe the U. S. is spending millions of dollars to fight obesity and the Food Channel is flaunting Paula Dean, the Barefoot Contessa, and Emeril the biggest heaps on the air. Combined they must weigh seven hundred pounds. Their food is killer dynamite. How can they allow that?

CelluliteQueen Feb 9th 2009 11:45PM

To each - his own. CelluliteQueen.com

Debbie Feb 10th 2009 5:14AM

Yeah I think that's more like 800lbs combined....

klkrn Feb 10th 2009 10:48AM

Nobody makes you eat the food. If you are not smart enough to know when enough is enough I feel bad for you.

Lucindalc Feb 16th 2009 6:41PM

Get up to date, Food Network dumped Emeril in 2007. He is on the one of the Discovery Networks now.

bdc3360 Feb 9th 2009 11:23PM

Who cares? We have enough bad news in the USA....why report about an English chef?

Why waste time and web space on him?

AOL SUCKS! Lazy content editors....shame on u!

Susan Feb 10th 2009 1:28AM

I wouldn't mind seeing Gordon Ramsey go up in smoke, he's an arrogant ass!

Brenda Feb 10th 2009 5:01AM

I totally agree! Cannot stand that man! Must brush his teeth with PreparationH and a bow brush.

JM Feb 10th 2009 9:36AM

As far as Gordon Ramsay is concerned he’s getting his just deserts.

Perhaps one of the loan officers from the bank will get in his face and fire off a blue streak of swear words chronicling his failures just like he does to the hapless contestants who fail to perform up to his “vaulted” expectations on that humiliatingly contrived Hell’s Kitchen show.

michella Feb 10th 2009 9:50AM

I love gordon ramsey. hes good at what he does amd he brings out the best in people once they get over themselves and realize hes trying to force out the best in themselves. The cussing gets their attention as well as cracks me along with millions of viewers. Americans are too spoilt and cant take straight up critique. The ones complaining wish they were him.

JM Feb 10th 2009 10:08AM

There is a time and place for everything, including swearing. The needless vulgarity on American television debases the culture.

As far as I'm concerned I'd be much more likely to direct the F-bomb at someone who defaults on a multimillion dollar/pound loan than I would at someone burns the risotto.

Gordon Ramsay is a businessman. If he's really good at what he does, he'd pay his debts.

Beside, it’s always easy to laugh at someone else’s expense.

John Marshall Feb 10th 2009 1:53PM

I'd like to see one of the contestants on Ramsey's show take a cleaver to him. There is instruction and there is constructive criticism - he gives neither. He's a vulgar, foul-mouthed diva who apparently takes great pleasure in very publicly humiliating people. Granted it makes for more "drama" for the trashier sort lacking sufficient class to recognize any wrong in his foul mouthings or conduct.

JM Feb 10th 2009 7:27PM

I used to watch the show on occasion, up until the point when Ramsay’s mother made a guest appearance on the show, and he chastised one of the contestants for swearing in front of dear old "Mum."

After listening to Ramsay drop countless F-Bombs on the entire American viewing public I couldn’t believe he would have the nerve to ask one of the contestants tone down her language in front of his mother.

ray Feb 10th 2009 10:01PM

Heres the thing..If you dont like gordon ramsey..dont watch the show...period..end of story

MaryMRevis Feb 10th 2009 10:40PM

I think Gordon Ramsey is FANTASTIC!. The man knows his craft and takes NO B.S. from anyone. He ALSO gets respect by knowing that, in these financially strapped times...closing a few of his restaurants will help his holding become more stable. He doesn't HAVE to..he chooses to due to the money pinch EVERYONE is feeling, not just himself. OK, he has a potty mouth...so WHAT???. If anyone doesn't like it they can just not watch him.

There are people who have truly benefited from his culinary knowledge. Like the young woman who didn't have the money to go to culinary school. Gordon saw her talent and paid her way through. It not only was a nice thing to do but a WISE thing to do. He knows real talent and likes to see it grow.

To any naysayers..the remote control DOES have a channel change button...use it please. Gordon will STILL be doing what he loves..cooking and teaching and the naysayers will STILL be sitting in their lazy boy chairs b***ing.

swimchick Feb 10th 2009 11:38PM

I luv Gordon Ramsy. I hear his wife makes him don his chef's coat on friday nights so he can f..u.c.k her.

Rebecca Pidgeon Feb 11th 2009 3:03PM

Seriously.... would you trust ANY TV Cook with the task of even making a cup of tea ? Perhaps the problem resides not with the cop-out issue of "blaming the bank", but the fact that a TV cook attempting to run any eatery fails to deliver a credible product to prospective customers.

Gina D Torres Feb 12th 2009 1:46PM

I have always suspected that the plethora of mediocre TV cooks were over glorified "soux-chefs", gained their fame through being "fad" of the week, and that the likes of Antony Worrel Thompson, Gordon Ramsay and Jamie Oliver would find it difficult to get any job within a fast food restaurant. Frankly, I would hate to think that my bank would ever employ any teller who would agree to any loan application from any TV cook.

Of course, if unemployment beckons, I am sure that the local Fast Food Restaurant would be more than happy to offer a position to any TV cook as a "Short Order Cook" or someone to assist customers at the till, or even as someone to clean the tables after the customers had departed.

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