Friday Five: the week's top news
- Protesters from climate justice movement Animal Rebellion occupied Gordon Ramsay's flagship London restaurant last Saturday (19 November), branding it a 'perfect example of the inequality currently faced in the UK'. Fourteen members of Animal Rebellion entered Restaurant Gordon Ramsay on Royal Hospital Road, Chelsea, at about 6pm and sat at tables reserved for guests. The individuals could be seen holding mock menus outlining 'the environmental and social cost' of the food on Gordon Ramsay’s menu, followed by the group’s core demands stylised as a starter, main, and dessert. As of 7pm police were attending the scene, and at 8pm the restaurant closed for business and the protestors say they left peacefully through the front door. A spokesperson for Restaurant Gordon Ramsay called the protest 'incredibly inappropriate and deeply disrespectful'.
- Evelyn's Table chef-patron Luke Selby has been appointed executive head chef of Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons. Selby's brothers Theo and Nathaniel, who currently work with him at Evelyn's Table in Soho, will move with him to Le Manoir. Blanc will 'continue his legacy' as chef patron and Benoit Blin will remain as chef patissier. The news follows the departure of executive chef Gary Jones from Raymond Blanc's high-profile Oxfordshire country house hotel and restaurant earlier this month.
- Lime Wood Hotel in Hampshire’s New Forest has been named the best boutique hotel in the UK. The venue is home to restaurant Hartnett Holder and Co, led by chefs Angela Hartnett and Luke Holder, as well as Herb House Spa, complete with indoor and outdoor pools with forest views. It also has a range of style of accommodation, including a forest cottage and cabin, lodges, hideaway suites and a lake cabin.It rose 18 places from last year’s position on the list, where it made debut at number 19. Last year’s top hotel The Newt in Somerset was ranked at number two this year with Heckfield Place in Hampshire taking third spot and The Pig at Bridge Place in Kent ranked at number four.
- Hospitality trade bodies have warned that planned rail strikes next month in the run-up to Christmas will be 'devastating' for the sector. The RMT announced this week that industrial action will be held across two 48- hour periods on the week before Christmas (13-14 and 16-17 December), which is generally considered to be one of the busiest weeks of the year for hospitality firms. A further two 48-hour strikes will take place on 3-4 and 6-7 January 2023. UKHospitality has since warned that next month's rail strikes will cost the industry £1.5bn in lost sales.
- Chef Chris Denney has confirmed that his Notting Hill restaurant Fiend, which only launched in the summer of 2021, has closed permanently. The multi-faceted restaurant and bar on Portobello Road is understood to have shut its doors a couple of months ago, but Denney has only now confirmed the closure. "We have had to make a really tough decision; it has been an incredibly challenging year," says Denney, in a statement provided to BigHospitality. "The support we have had from our immediate locals has been immense but sadly not enough to sustain the business long term."
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