Ejection seating

FOLLOWING the highly publicised dismissal by Gordon Ramsay of Sunday Times critic AA Gill from his restaurant in Chelsea, Chef has asked a number of chef-proprietors where they stand on the issue of ejecting customers from their establishments.

While all the chef-proprietors we contacted are in agreement that rude and abusive customers should be thrown out of their restaurants, they are divided as to what action to take when it comes to food critics who may be aggressive in print.

The general feeling is that chefs should be able to accept criticism of their food and restaurants, and it is only when published comments become spiteful that they believe there is a justification for asking a critic to leave.

"If we put ourselves and our restaurants up to be judged, then we should be prepared to take it," says Brian Turner of Turner's restaurant, London. "Any comment about the food or restaurant, I am prepared to accept, but it's different the moment the critic starts calling the chef a clown, childish or worse."

Michel Roux Jnr, of Le Gavroche in London, agrees that he would not throw out a food critic just for having written a bad review, but he would have no hesitation in doing so if the criticism became personal. "Constructive and intelligent criticism can, in fact, be helpful," he says. "But it's another matter if the criticism is vindictive."

Roux himself is no stranger to ejecting food critics from his restaurant, having told Michael Winner to leave Le Gavroche for being rude to restaurant staff. "His behaviour was absolutely appalling," says Roux. "He came in and asked for a table. When told that we were full, he started ranting and raving and asked the receptionist if she knew who he was. He had staff in tears and I told him to leave, saying that I never wanted to see him here again."

Winner, it seems, is the food critic least welcomed by chef-proprietors. In addition to Roux, Antony Worrall Thompson of Woz and Wiz, both in London, and Paul Heathcote, of Paul Heathcote's at Longridge in Lancashire, also declare that Winner is persona non grata in their establishments.

For Worrall Thompson, Winner is quite simply "a disgrace to his profession", while Heathcote says: "He is not good for our trade."

Refusing future bookings

Chef-proprietors reluctant to remove a "spiteful" critic include Shaun Hill of the Merchant House at Ludlow in Shropshire, David Wilson of the Peat Inn in Fife, and Philip Howard of the Square in London. Hill says he would try to avoid cooking for them ever again by attempting to refuse a future booking. "But if that was not possible, once here, I would feed them," he says.

For Wilson, life is too short to start throwing people out of his restaurant simply for a newspaper article he didn't agree with. "There would be nothing gained by it - it would probably simply reinforce the critic's view of you anyway," he says.

"I'm not as high-profile as someone like Gordon, and couldn't get away with throwing a critic out in quite the same way as he has. For a food writer to travel the 500-600 miles out of London and up here would be a pilgrimage, and I'd just be delighted that they had made the effort to do that."

Howard says that while he believes he would be justified in asking a critic whose criticism had become personal to leave, he doesn't believe it would be in his professional interest to do so.

"The people who come to restaurants like the Square are very sophisticated, heavyweights in their own spheres of business, and do not want to become embroiled in such publicity," he says. "I'm not convinced that all publicity is good publicity. I want to create a warm, inviting, seductive environment for my customers, and I couldn't do that if I was known as the kind of turbulent chef-proprietor who threw out his customers."

Everyone interviewed by Chef is in agreement that rude and obnoxious customers should be swiftly and politely given their marching orders. "I would have no hesitation in doing that if someone became awkward and was impinging on the enjoyment of others in the restaurant," says Turner.

In the eight years that he has been in business, Heathcote has asked two customers to leave for being arrogant and rude to the restaurant staff. "I asked an elderly lady to leave who had been difficult," he says. "When she told me that she would tell all her friends, I said, ‘Please do, for they won't be welcome here either.' The customers at the two adjacent tables stood up and clapped."

However, Heathcote says that his dismissal of customers has only been in extreme situations. "It is not something I can do too frequently, as I have a lot of regular customers whom I rely on for most of my business," he says. "It is different from being in London, where there is always another customer just around the corner to replace the one you've thrown out."

Creating bad feeling

Wilson has thrown out only a handful of customers for being drunk and rude during 26 years at the Peat Inn, while Howard has reluctantly asked a customer to leave who was creating bad feeling by trying to engage other diners in a war against the restaurant.

Roux says it is his right, as the person with his name above the door, to decide who may and may not eat in his restaurant. As well as difficult and abusive customers, who might be asked to leave, those not allowed into the restaurant include anyone not abiding by Le Gavroche's dress code. Men are required to wear a jacket and tie. "It doesn't matter who they are," says Roux. "They may be a pop star or a lord, but if they are not wearing a jacket and tie, then they won't be allowed in."

A chef-proprietor, whether a well-known celebrity or a café owner, has the right to throw out rude and obnoxious customers, according to Worrall Thompson. "Once someone creates difficulties in a restaurant, it tends to spread through the place like a disease and everyone becomes dissatisfied," he says. "But it would be my or my wife's decision alone to ask someone to go. I wouldn't allow the restaurant manager or head chef to do it."

There was some concern among several chefs that Ramsay's ejection of Gill was purely a publicity stunt. While Worrall Thompson believes Ramsay was right in throwing out Gill because of vindictive comments made in an earlier review, he felt that he had blown his case by apparently informing the press about what he had done. "He knew the fact that Joan Collins was with Gill was newsworthy," he says.

Ramsay refutes any suggestion that he contacted the press over the Gill incident. "I would like to make it clear that I didn't ring any paper," he says. "There was a journalist from the national press sitting at an adjacent table to Gill. And, in fact, I've had an overwhelming amount of letters of support from people in the trade." n