Sunday, November 3, 2024

EMILY PRESCOTT: Bailiffs raid Chef Marco’s hotel ‘over his son’s restaurant business debt’

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Guests visiting Marco Pierre White‘s Rudloe Arms are told on its website to ‘expect good old-fashioned hospitality’. So it must have come as surprise for those at the country house hotel near Bath when bailiffs arrived. 

They were armed with a court order demanding immediate payment for goods and services, I can reveal.

The recent incident is understood to be related to debts owed by Marco’s son Luciano, whose own restaurant business recently collapsed leaving investors £300,000 out of pocket.

Last night, a source said: ‘Marco has been comprehensively dumped in it by his son. Enforcement officers went into the hotel when customers were there.

‘Marco knows how to run a successful business and his admin people would never have allowed an unpaid invoice to reach this stage.

Guests visiting Marco Pierre White’s (pictured) Rudloe Armsare told on its website to ‘expect good old-fashioned hospitality’. So it must have come as surprise for those at the country house hotel near Bath when bailiffs arrived

It is believed the officers arrived at the Rudloe (pictured) because Marco's son Luciano had given that address on Companies House records

It is believed the officers arrived at the Rudloe (pictured) because Marco’s son Luciano had given that address on Companies House records

Marco and son Luciano Pierre White at a restaurant in Dorchester in December 2020

Marco and son Luciano Pierre White at a restaurant in Dorchester in December 2020

‘But Luciano knows next to nothing about management and either he, or his associates, have obviously just ignored demands for payment. Marco will be furious.’

It is believed the officers arrived at the Rudloe because Luciano had given that address on Companies House records. 

Luciano, 34, set up three restaurants post-pandemic. His father helped launch the first, in Dorchester, Dorset, and further outlets followed in Woking and Exeter. All three crashed, though the Dorchester premises has since reopened under new management.

Last month we revealed that former BHS boss Dominic Chappell, who last year was released from prison halfway through a six-year sentence for tax fraud, had been recalled to jail after secretly overseeing Luciano’s chain in breach of his parole conditions.

Marco’s spokesman made clear this was a matter for Luciano, who, like the officials, we have been unable to contact.

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