EMILY PRESCOTT: Bailiffs raid Chef Marco’s resort ‘over his son’s debt’
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
Marco and son Luciano Pierre White at a restaurant in Dorchester in December 2020
Disgraced former BHS boss Dominic Chappell was thrown back in jail after being caught secretly running a restaurant chain with the son of celebrity chef Marco Pierre White
‘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.
Mr Chappell, 56, bought BHS from Sir Philip Green for £1 before it collapsed with the loss of 11,000 jobs.
Despite being barred from running companies, the shamed entrepreneur teamed up with his close friend Marco Pierre White and his son Luciano Pierre White, 34, also a chef, to help launch three Italian restaurants – only for the chain to fold with huge debts.
An exterior of Marco Pierre White’s former restaurant in Leicester Square that was taken over by squatters
The front doors to the property which had been padlocked (pictured)
Inside Marco Pierre White’s former restaurant where up to 400 squatters had been staying
Mr Chappell ran it as a ‘consultant’ while out on parole, appointing associates as directors.
Following a tip-off, he was recalled to HMP Guys Marsh in Dorset in March for breaking his licence conditions.
Marco’s spokesman made clear this was a matter for Luciano, who, like the officials, we have been unable to contact.
This comes after it emerged that squatters were removed from Mr White’s abandoned steak and pizza restaurant in the heart of London’s West End.
The group, who pitched up a week prior, padlocked the doors and put up a sign warning they cannot be evicted without a court order as the building was vacant.
Up to ‘400’ people had been living in the four-storey building in Leicester Square before neighbours noticed them ‘queuing for what looked like a big party’ and alerted the council.
The popular restaurant – which sold £20 cuts of steak, £15 bowls of pasta and salads for £8.50 – had undergone a £1.5million refurbishment before it closed earlier this year.
Police then removed the squatters, after officers responded to a separate complaint about ‘rats and mice coming from that building’.
The chef’s other son Marco Pierre White Jr (pictured) revealed in an exclusive interview with MailOnline that he had converted to Islam during his time in jail and is now determined to turn his life around
White Jr, pictured leaving HMP Bristol this week, was jailed for a year for shoplifting, racially abusing a supermarket security guard, possession of a knife and heroin possession
Last year, the chef’s other son Marco Pierre White Jr was released from prison and vowed never to touch drugs again after spending more than £1 million on rehab – and also revealed he had converted to Islam to help him stay clean.
The 28-year-old was released after a year in jail for a spree of shoplifting, possessing a knife, possessing heroin – and racially abusing a supermarket security guard.
But the Celebrity Big Brother star said he was being supported by his celebrity chef father after becoming a Muslim as he battles to ‘stay clean’ and reform years of drug abuse which began at the age of just 13.