Gordon Ramsay Holdings closes La Noisette restaurant

Gordon Ramsay Holdings has closed its Michelin-starred restaurant La Noisette in Knightsbridge, just 18 months after its launch.

The restaurant is the group's second failed enterprise on the London Sloane Street site after Ian Pengelley's eponymous restaurant, which closed in 2005 less than a year after opening.

The site, which has had various incarnations over the past 18 years, has struggled to establish itself with a long-term dining brand.

In the mid 1990s, operating as Monte's, the private members' club, it brought in the talents of multi-Michelin-starred chef Alain Ducasse, while in 2000 Jamie Oliver was appointed as chef-consultant, overseeing head chef Ben O'Donoghue.

A spokeswoman for Gordon Ramsay Holdings said the company would now use La Noisette as a space for private dining and events.

"This will help accommodate some of the lost private-dining opportunities in the Reading Room while The Savoy is closed for extensive refurbishment," she said.

Caterersearch understands that La Noisette chef patron Bjorn van der Horst is to leave Gordon Ramsay Holdings to set up his own restaurant.

La Noisette is Gordon Ramsay Holding's third fine-dining closure in London, after the closure of Angela Hartnett's restaurant at the Connaught hotel and the Savoy Grill, which closed as part of the hotel's 18-month refurbishment programme.

Gordon Ramsay Holdings denied rumours that Savoy Grill chef-patron Marcus Wareing is set to leave the Michelin-starred restaurant.

For more about Gordon Ramsay Holdings see our Gordon Ramsay news profile >>

Bjorn van der Horst to join Gordon Ramsay stable >>

Ramsay gets another rough ride at his latest pub, the Warrington >>

Pengelley's restaurant shuts suddenly >>

Pengelley takes over Monte's at Carlton Tower >>

By Kerstin Kühn

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