Gordon Ramsay risks restaurants over tax bill

Gordon Ramsay, who has suffered a run of financial blows this year despite his celebrity chef status, faced further 'kitchen nightmares' yesterday when HM Revenue & Customs applied for winding-up petitions for four of his London restaurants.

Ramsay had got behind with tax payments for his Michelin-starred Mayfair restaurant Maze, his Plane Food bistro at Heathrow's Terminal 5, The Narrow gastro-pub in London's East End, and his flagship Restaurant Gordon Ramsay in Royal Hospital Road, Chelsea.

However, Ramsay was able to pay his taxes on the gastro-pub and the Chelsea restaurant just before the hearing and so the judge, Mrs Registrar Derrett, immediately dismissed those petitions. She then gave Ramsay two months to pay the taxes on the Maze and a fortnight to meet his Heathrow bistro debt.

This year has been something of an annus horribilis for Ramsay, one of the world's best known chefs. The star of TV’s F Word and Kitchen Nightmares revealed in July that profits for his restaurant empire were down 90 per cent due to falling bookings in the recession. "Customers just disappeared [but] your staff costs are the same, your running costs are the same,” he said at the time. “It was a nightmare.”

In August, Ramsay admitted he had come close to bankruptcy, when profits from Gordon Ramsay Holdings plunged from £3 million to just £400,000. Ramsay and his father-in-law Chris Hutcheson pumped in £5 million of their own money to keep the company afloat. Ramsay also cut his losses by selling two other London restaurants and firing 15 per cent of his 1,200 staff. He sold his silver Ferrari sports car and even considered selling his London home.

Ramsay also faced allegations this year that he had been unfaithful to his wife, Tana, as well as accusations that food for some of his restaurants was being prepared miles away and delivered by van.

Ramsay was not in court yesterday but insisted that business was finally picking up. "The hardest time was this time last year, but... I think we’ve weathered the storm," he told the Daily Mail. "It’s all about keeping the customers happy, which I think we’re doing."