Worrall Thompson closes six restaurants with 60 job losses

London's restaurants face a year of turmoil, warned celebrity chef Anthony Worrall Thompson after he was forced to close six of his establishments.

His dire prediction came today as he blamed the banks for the closure of his restaurants.

Sixty staff lost their jobs when the 57-year-old, who built his personal fortune from several ventures in London, shut his restaurants and pubs and put his company AWT Restaurants into administration after Lloyds Banking Group refused to extend his overdraft.

Notting Grill, one of three venues to close in London, is the biggest casualty, with 23 staff losing their jobs. They have been told to come to the restaurant in Clarenden Road, Notting Hill, today to receive their final wages.

Worrall Thompson has pledged they will get their outstanding wages, even if he has to pay them from his own pocket.

He told the Evening Standard: "We were gutted the banks didn't help us. I feel very let down. With six restaurants you could expect a loan of about £1 million.

"Lloyds would not give us the money without personal guarantees. We built up the business without borrowing any money at all, apart from an overdraft."

He said that all six venues, which include Barnes Grill, would have survived had he been able to borrow £200,000 for the first four months of this year.

The TV chef dipped into his own savings of £250,000 to buy back two of his restaurants, Windsor Grill and Kew Grill, and his shop the Windsor Larder from the administrators.

But he refused meet the bank's demand to risk his own home to save the entire company, which also included The Greyhound and The Lamb Inn, both in Worrall Thompson's home town of Henley-on-Thames. The bank wanted him to put his separate business, Organic Partnership, up as collateral. But he refused, claiming it was "far too dangerous".

He added: "I'm not of the age where I can give a personal guarantees and I didn't want to jeopardise the future of my family.

"We were left with Windsor and Kew, the only ones we could afford, and I didn't want to go to venture capitalists for finance."

Now Worrall Thompson predicts lean times for the capital's family restaurants. He said: "Middle-of-the-market restaurants are going to suffer most, not just the big names."

Worrall Thompson visited each of the doomed restaurants on Friday to tell staff their jobs no
longer existed.

A letter from him and his business partner David Wilby was handed to the redundant workers. It read: "We are so sad to see the loss of AWT Restaurants Ltd, which we have spent so many years building, with all your help, support and hard work. We are very sorry to lose all of you."

Worrall Thompson has pledged that his former staff, who are owed a month's pay, will get their money.