Conran loses appetite for restaurant business

Perhaps anticipating the catastrophic effects of a global recession on the dining habits of Londoners, Sir Terence Conran has asked the investment bank Goldman Sachs to find a buyer for his chain of eateries, among them Quaglino's, Bibendum and Le Pont de la Tour. The 77-year-old is looking for someone to take over his 51 per cent stake in the holding company that owns the restaurants, which insiders say could net him as much as £200m.

It is believed Sir Terence may retain a small shareholding, but wants to put his business in the hands of an investor with the appetite for expansion into new markets such as China and Dubai. "It had got too big for me to get pleasure out of it. Restaurants need constant loving care and I couldn't give that," he said recently.

Stephen Bayley, Sir Terrence's former collaborator, suggests he may have become disillusioned. "His taste is educated, middle class and Chelsea. It only really coincided with a small percentage of the population. His restaurants were populated by people he didn't know existed. In the end they became the sort of mediocrity he was trying to escape."