Richard Corrigan quits in Irish trade's 'tough times'

28th September 2010, 10:10am

Celebrity chef Richard Corrigan has pulled out of the Irish restaurant trade, painting a grim picture of its struggle to survive in the Republic's current economic crisis.

Corrigan, a native of County Meath, who has built his reputation in the UK, had been operating Bentley's Oyster Bar & Grill on Dublin's Stephen's Green for the past two years. He has now ended his involvement with it and will be concentrating his energies on his two London restaurants, in Mayfair and Piccadilly.

Explaining the decision to pull out of Dublin, he said that everyone in the Irish trade was struggling. "You have to have full houses three or four nights a week just to pay  your way," he claimed. "If you can't do that you are going to go out of business.   

 "All my buddies here in Ireland are in the restaurant trade and my heart goes out to them. It's tough. It really is very, very tough for them, and there's no easy way out. The business has hit the bottom."

The genial chef has been a hugely popular figure with the Irish public, running a much-watched cookery programme, Corrigan Knows Food, on RTE, the national TV station, and operating a Corrigan farm to emphasise the importance of Ireland's natural food resources. His capacity for plain speaking has upset some, most notably farmers and retailers when he described as rubbish the cheap chicken being sold in many supermarkets.

He has been equally uncompromising in his criticism of "the sky-high rents" being  charged in Dublin in the middle of a recession and which, he claimed, were crippling businesses that were battling to survive. His rent and rates bill on the Stephen's Green restaurant cost €6,000 a week, which he described as "outrageous".

 "Landlords need to cop on," he warned. "This is Dublin, not Manhattan or Mayfair. There's a market rent and you simply can't charge international prices, as they're doing. Rents are a huge issue here."

The chef, a Michelin star winner, says Irish restaurants have "done every thing possible" to cope with the economic downturn. "They can't cut costs any more because they have rents and rates to meet and staff to pay. It's just very tough times in the trade right now."

Related Articles:

• 07 Jun 2011 - Awards ceremony recognising chef who catered for the Queen marred by protests
• 24 Feb 2011 - Chef Richard Corrigan introduces fish masterclasses at his restaurant
• 24 Jan 2011 - Restaurant Warned: No More Rare Burgers
• 15 Nov 2010 - Budget Plea As 'One Restaurant A Day Closes'
• 25 Oct 2010 - Irish restaurant trade 'showing signs of recovery' after horrendous year
• 12 Apr 2010 - Chef Richard Corrigan hits back at “whispering campaign”

Click here to submit a comment!

Drigin Gaffey

08 October 2010 at 3:22pm

I am very disappointed to hear that Mr. Corrigan will be leaving Dublin and concentrating on his London enterprises. However, I completely understand. We own a restaurant and we are very busy, but our rent is killing us. The government says there is nothing they can do about it because it would be unconstitutional to interfere in signed leases. I accept that to a certain extent. But if a business can work by paying twice the market value, how is it acceptable to allow the business to fail because it can't pay four times it's value?

Have your say!

To comment on this article, simply enter your name and email and send us your views. Please note that your comment will appear publicly below this article once it has been processed. For enquiries please email info@eatoutmagazine.co.uk.