Marco quits, Mirabelle debts hit £10m

MARCO PIERRE WHITE has effectively resigned as a director of his favourite restaurant, the Mirabelle, and appears to have sold his million shares in the company.

Along with his business partner Jimmy Lahoud he resigned last June, but the former top chef's departure came to light only today. The news comes weeks after the closure of two other restaurants owned by White, 41.

Mirabelle, in London's Mayfair, has debts of £10m. It was there that White became the first British chef to be awarded three Michelin stars.

The restaurant's debts appear in the annual accounts for OTA Resources, which runs it. NatWest bank is said to be one of the major creditors. Despite the heavy debts, the restaurant actually made £1m profit before tax last year on a turnover of £7.76m.

The Titanic and the Oak Room in Piccadilly, two of White's flagship restaurants, closed this year after posting multi-million-pound losses. Their umbrella company, MPW Criterion, lost £ 2.24m according to accounts filed last year, having already run up deficits of £3.5m.

White retired from being a chef three years ago and recently became a partner in London's Planet Hollywood. He plans a supermarket range of branded food, from sandwiches and bagels to burgers and smoked salmon. Earlier this year he spent £2m buying the fish restaurant Wheeler's of St James's - a London institution for nearly 150 years - and has bought into three fast-food outlets selling burgers, bagels and sandwiches.