Jamie Oliver’s Cornwall Restaurant Has Closed

Celebrity chef and cookbook author Jamie Oliver’s Cornwall restaurant and chef training school, Fifteen, closed yesterday.

As first reported by the Guardian, the closure of the Watergate Bay restaurant will result in up to 100 job losses.

The restaurant was not owned by Oliver but the charitable trust Cornwall Food Foundation, which licensed the Oliver brand name.

The Cornwall Food Foundation said in a statement that it was deeply saddened.

“We are deeply saddened to announce that Fifteen Cornwall will close and cease trading with immediate effect.”

It confirmed that the process of liquidating the company assets had commenced.

Matthew Thomson, chief executive of the foundation said: “This is an incredibly sad day for everyone and we will try our best to support those who have been impacted. I am profoundly sorry for the hurt, loss and distress this announcement will undoubtedly cause.”

It follows the collapse of Oliver’s nationwide restaurant portfolio in June this year — itself resulting in the complete closure of the Jamie’s Italian chain and his two standalone restaurants Barbecoa in the City of London and Fifteen in Old Street. That collapse resulted in the loss of nearly 1000 jobs.

Jamie Oliver said: “I am very surprised and saddened to learn that Fifteen Cornwall and the Cornwall Food Foundation have closed. Both organisations have always been run separately from us but the team has done an amazing job with the trainee programme, training over 200 chefs and reaching so many more along the way – so this is a huge blow. My thoughts are with everyone affected.”