The Ivy put up for sale in secret City talks

Legendary theatreland haunt The Ivy is up for sale.

The owners of London's most glamorous restaurant have secretly briefed City advisers to find a buyer for the Covent Garden venue, whose waiting list can be months long and whose clients include Sir Elton John, Tom Cruise, the Beckhams, Robbie Williams and Claudia Schiffer.

The sale would include The Ivy's five West End sister restaurants - Le Caprice, off Piccadilly, J Sheekey, also in Covent Garden, and three others.

All are owned by Signature Restaurants, which is chaired and 55 per cent owned by Channel 4 chairman Luke Johnson. Signature has asked the corporate finance arm of accountants KPMG to sound out potential buyers. One insider said: "Until everything is firm, we can't give anything away."

It is thought the most likely buyer would be a financial business rather than another restaurant chain, but there have been rumours that a group of senior managers and chefs at The Ivy is considering a management buyout.

Mr Johnson - formerly a backer of the Pizza Express chain - paid £13.1million for The Ivy, Le Caprice and J Sheekey in 1998 having earlier acquired Daphne's, The Collection and Pasha from socialite Mogens Tholstrup.

It is believed Signature will hold on to its fast-growing pizza chain Strada.

Some questioned whether Mr Johnson could give his full attention to two high-profile roles when he was made boss of Channel 4 last year.

"There has definitely been a slight sense of drift and decline at The Ivy," said Richard Harden, co-founder of Harden's restaurant guides.

In the latest edition of the guide, the restaurant slipped from a two to a three rating for food. However, it was recently ranked 44th best restaurant in the world by Restaurant magazine.