A HUGE celebrity chef’s posh restaurant could be set to close its doors for good, just five years after being saved.
BBC icon Rick Stein has around a dozen restaurants in the UK and Australia.
Rick Stein has around a dozen restaurants[/caption]
The TV chef’s Marlborough restaurant could be set to close[/caption]
However, his Malborough, Wiltshire location has not been performing as well as others, meaning it could be set to face the chop.
The chain revealed that it hopes a closure can be avoided, but is consulting with its team about a permanent closure.
A spokesperson for Rick Stein Marlborough told Gazette and Herald: “We can confirm that we are proposing the closure of our Marlborough restaurant and are consulting with the team to explore whether this can be avoided.
“Our other restaurants and rooms continue to trade well, but this particular site has not delivered the same level of return.”
Mr Stein, 78, runs his successful restaurant group with his ex-wife Jill and his sons Jack, Charlie and Ed.
Many of the Food Stories star’s nine UK restaurants are located in Cornwall.
The TV chef’s Marlborough restaurant first opened back in 2016, and is housed in the Grade II listed building Lloran House.
It serves some of Mr Stein’s most well-known dishes such as Dover sole a la meunière and turbot hollandaise.
Five years ago, in 2020, the restaurant was saved from closure, after the landlord offered a reduction in rent.
A total of 39 staff members who had been given notice were given their jobs back, after the 25% reduction was agreed.
Mr Stein said at the time: “I’m delighted that our landlord in Marlborough made such a generous offer, I had resigned myself to losing the restaurant and our wonderful team and I am so pleased that we can reopen.”
Jill Stein added: “I think it is a wonderful site in a beautiful market town.
“Kate, Ed, and I put a huge amount of thought into the look and feel of Rick Stein Marlborough and I am relieved that we will be reopening.”
At the time, the anonymous landlord said that the generous offer was the “right thing to do”, however, the restaurant is still struggling.
Accounts filed with Companies House on Tuesday, September 23, revealed that Stein’s Trading Limited made an operating loss in 2024.
The report also revealed that holding company The Seafood Restaurant Padstow Limited reported an operating loss.
The restaurant chain has been contacted for comment.
Mr Stein’s restaurant isn’t the only eatery to be struggling, as it has been announced that a Michelin star restaurant is set to close for good after six years.
Pophams London Fields launched as a bakery and evening pasta concept in 2019 but will shut on October 30.
And last month, Channel 4 chef Dom Taylor announced he is closing his Marvee’s Food Shop in Ladbroke Grove, West London, due to “unforeseen circumstances”.
The Caribbean restaurant only opened a few month’s prior, in May, as part of the music and events space UNDR, near the famous Portobello Road.
