Hoteliers are use to customers pinching things from their rooms – slippers, dressing gowns, gold baths – gold baths! Yes this most unusual fate has befallen a Japanese hotel, which has had a £500,000, 80kg tub go walkies – no doubt leaving hotel staff to face a shower of abuse from the manager.

Having plumbed the depths with that story, on to the news that ISS, which runs services on the Sunborn Yacht hotel at London’s Excel conferencing centre in Docklands, has set up a dedicated hotels division to grow the services side of its business.

Having missed out on La Tasca, Café Rouge owner Tragus has flexed its financial muscles and swooped for Italian restaurant chain Strada in a £140m deal.

Superstar chef Gordon Ramsay deftly slid back into the newspapers again this week with news he is to open an LA restaurant with media darlings the Beckhams, which certainly raised a few eyebrows.

Less contentious was the chef’s decision to remove endangered blue fin tuna from his restaurants’ menus.

Continuing the Ramsay link the RSPCA called on him and his peers to stop using foie gras and called for a ban due to, in its opinion, the animal cruelty involved in production of the delicacy.

As Compass Group officially revealed plans to put all of its fine dining operations under its Restaurant Associates banner in the UK , Laurel planned a high street blitz, much like young drinkers across the land every weekend.

Whether current eating out spend fears will upset that particular apple cart we’ll see but Food and Drink Group and London pub operator Young’s motored on regardless with sales up.

Sustainable? Well Acorn Houses’ second environmentally sound restaurant in London should be when it opens this autumn in Hackney.

And if you think you’ve got what it takes to triumph ain this year’s Restaurant Association Young Chef, Young Waiter competition than you have until the 22 June to submit an entry [314094].

Quote of the week:  “Le Gavroche gave me the base on which I’ve built my career. Albert was a total inspiration.” Paul Rankin, chef-proprietor, Rankin Group.

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