AA may back down over Pétrus row

AA managing director Roger Wood looks to have begun a climbdown on his refusal to allow London restaurant Pétrus to be awarded five rosettes in the 2003 AA Restaurant Guide.

Wood, who overruled the AA's professional inspectors on the issue, has released a statement saying: "It may be that my personal views may have been given undue weight in the decision-making process about the AA rosette award for Pétrus."

His decision has caused the resignations of Simon Wright, the guide's editor, and now Sarah Peart, a senior food inspector.

Wood has no training in assessing food for rosettes and is not an inspector.

In the statement, Wood said he had asked Albert Hampson, business manager of AA Hotel Services, to reconvene the AA merit awards committee to review the decision.

The AA refused to confirm or deny rumours that a meeting took place on Friday morning at which managers and inspectors agreed to reinstate the five rosettes for Pétrus when the guide comes out on 17 September.

Pétrus, which is co-owned by chef-restaurateurs Gordon Ramsay and Marcus Wareing, had been recommended for the rosettes after visits by several AA inspectors.

The decision to veto the upgrade stemmed from a visit Wood made to the restaurant in March before he was due to eat there and a meal there. Wood described the restaurant in e-mails to inspectors as a "poseur's restaurant" that was "extremely expensive" and lacking in ambience.

But inspectors reported that the food was "stunning" and the service impeccable.