Bistro Bistrot forced to drop Kennedy

Kevin Kennedy, former chef-patron of Covent Garden's Boulestin restaurant, has been made redundant less than a year after joining The Restaurant Partnership to run Bistro Bistrot at London's Bailey's Hotel.

The original plan to develop a club at the restaurant has been abandoned and it will now be brought into line with the company's three other Bistro Bistrot establishments.

Nick Scade, who runs The Restaurant Partnership with Roy Ackerman, told Caterer: "There was no point having someone of Kevin's experience running a restaurant where the menu is decided centrally."

It had been hoped that Mr Kennedy would attract a higher spending clientele from his previous restaurant. A crucial element of this plan was to develop the restaurant into a club.

But Mr Scade said that since Bailey's had become part of Singapore-based CDL, it had become clear the club concept would not work with a tourist-based hotel clientele.