Chef School premises go to market

Southwark Council is preparing to put the Butlers Wharf Chef School premises on the market, following its closure earlier this month when it failed to pay rent arrears of £155,000 (Caterer, 15 March, page 5).

Chris Horn, head of property at Southwark Council, said that the property, with its 44-seat training restaurant, was likely to be sold as a restaurant.

There was speculation that Conran Restaurants, which helped set up the school, might buy it. But Garry Hawkes, chairman of the school's board of governors, said that Conran had considered this option and rejected it.

Horn believed that the University of Derby, which had offered to buy the school as a going concern, might still revive the school in a less pricey London area, such as Elephant & Castle or East Dulwich.

But the university denied that it was in any further discussions for a London arm and said that it was concentrating on moving its hotel school into a listed building in Buxton town centre.

Following talks with Westminster and Lewisham councils, Hawkes said that all students had been found new places.

Since the closure, other colleges had expressed an interest in obtaining the school's name. Hawkes said: "This proves that the concept was right, but the economics were wrong."