‘We can’t operate the restaurant with any form of social distancing — even if it was a one-metre’

Brett Graham has said that two Michelin-starred The Ledbury in Notting Hill ‘cannot reopen as long as social distancing is in place and he doesn't know what will happen after that’.

The news was announced by Bloomberg’s Richard Vines on Twitter but Brett has not said that the restaurant would permanently close.

He did confirm to Eater, ‘that all staff began the formal redundancy consultation process yesterday and that he could see “no route to reopening”’.

He told Eater ‘he and his business partners simply did not know what was going to happen with government policy, scientific advice, and the future of hospitality’.

He said: “We can’t keep customers and staff safe. If there was an outbreak at the Ledbury, then it would be devastating. I just can’t think of any way to [reopen].”

The Michelin-starred chef believes ‘any form of social distancing wouldn’t work at his restaurant and that he had no confidence that The Ledbury’s customer base would be able to revisit in the near future’.

“We can’t operate the restaurant with any form of social distancing — even if it was a one-metre. The economy is smashed; there are no customers in hotels, no international flights,” he said. “The [existing] business model is not viable.”

“I’m gutted. It’s been 15 years. There’s no winners in any scenario. I just don’t want to put anyone at risk.”

All suppliers have been paid in full at their usual rate and there are no outstanding invoices. He said that when the next quarterly rent payment was due, at the start of July, his current plan was to make that payment, because that money is owed. The business will ‘maintain the lease on the property, because he couldn’t say for certain what would happen in the future’.