TALK OF THE TOWN: Gordon Ramsay’s new nightmare

Diners have been scathing in their criticism about the small portions served up at Gordon Ramsay’s York & Albany restaurant – but the venue has been eating a giant hole in the fiery chef’s bank balance.

For I can reveal that the ailing restaurant in trendy Camden, North London, has sunk even further into the red and has racked up losses totalling a staggering £15 million since opening in 2008.

The figure appears in the ‘accumulated losses’ column of the latest financial statement. 

The records also reveal that the establishment made losses of more than £550,000 in just one year, to the end of August 2019.

And things could be about to get even worse for the Kitchen Nightmare star, pictured right. 

The disastrous number was for a period months before lockdown in the UK, which had a devastating impact on the high street. 

All of Ramsay’s restaurants closed in March and have only recently started to reopen.

In the new accounting figures filed to Companies House last week, the star’s team warn that the full impact of Covid-19 ‘is not yet known’.

The books show that he has personally given guarantees of £5million to shore up the businesses.

York & Albany has proved a huge headache for Ramsay. Years ago it was revealed that he had signed a deal guaranteeing to pay a staggering £640,000-a-year rent on the premises for 25 years, meaning he will fork out £16 million over the course of the lease.

And the restaurant has had its troubles on TripAdvisor. Last week, a scathing review appeared on the site, criticising what it claimed was a small steak and ‘over-salted’ chips for £23. 

The one-star review was titled, ‘Gordon is not Heston’, referring to rival Heston Blumenthal.

A spokesman for Ramsay declined to comment.

Princess who takes it all in her stride

You can stick on big sunglasses, a favourite summer dress and your slouchiest trainers – but when you’re a Royal you can’t just go out for a sunny stroll and not get noticed.

Here’s Princess Eugenie, 30, looking like one of the crowd in a £78 Claudie Pierlot number as she pops out for a stroll in Notting Hill, West London. 

She slung a Louis Vuitton handbag casually across her shoulder but there was a giveway on her ring finger – the 1.5-carat pear-shaped sparkler she was given by husband Jack Brooksbank at their wedding in 2018.