Antony Worrall Thompson's restaurant company goes into administration

Antony Worrall Thompson has placed his company, AWT Restaurants into administration after the banks refused to give him any extra funding.

The chef closed his Oxfordshire pub The Greyhound last week in a bid to consolidate his business, but he said a failure to get additional funding from the bank to safeguard the rest of the business meant he had no choice but to hand it over to administrators.

His remaining pub - The Lamb Freehouse and Kitchen in Henley and and deli The Windsor Larder, plus his four restaurants Notting Grill, Barnes Grill, Kew Grill and Windsor Grill, have all now closed with staff being made redundant.

In a statement Worrall Thompson said: “Although cost savings were being addressed, our cash flow problems were worsened when we experienced an unexpected but decisive fall in revenue across the businesses from September 2008.

"Even though November and December sales were down on the previous year, five of the seven businesses were profitable. However, the 1st quarter of the year is always a hard one in the hospitality business and with 2009 set to be an even tougher one, additional funding was required to ease our continuing cash flow issues. Our request for funds has not been supported making administration a difficult decision but an unavoidable one.”

AWT Restaurants started life in 1997 with the Notting Grill opening in 2001. Worrall Thompson said his decision to go into administration `had not been taken lightly`.

"We have all worked hard to build a loyal team of employees, grow the business and create solid relationships with our suppliers," he said.

Antony Worrall Thompson closes The Greyhound