Jamie Oliver is to front a new television show on Channel 4 in which one of his former trainees will be filmed running a restaurant in Essex.

The new series, which is being produced under the working title Cutting The Apron Strings, will follow on from Jamie’s Kitchen, in which Oliver gave a number of unemployed youths the chance to become trained chefs.

It will be aired on Channel 4 next year and will feature the chosen trainee running the kitchen as well as managing staff, sourcing ingredients, paying bills and doing paperwork.

The restaurant will be funded by Oliver’s Fifteen Foundation and if the show proves successful, it could pave the way for a series of similar restaurants to be set up across England.

Separately, Oliver’s Fifteen Foundation has reportedly bought the freehold for a pub in Essex. The Cock in Beazley End was sold off an asking price of £485,000.

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By Kerstin Kühn

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