Chef Mark Ellis vows to never run his own restaurant or hotel again

2023-06-28

Former Great British Menu star Mark Ellis vows to never run his own restaurant or hotel again as he is spared jail over ‘wholly inadequate’ fire safety measures at his upmarket venue

Mark Ellis pleaded guilty to a breach of fire regulations at Chester Crown Court
He ordered to complete 60 hours unpaid work as part of a community order

Former Great British Menu star Mark Ellis has vowed to never run his own restaurant or hotel again as he is spared jail over ‘wholly inadequate’ fire safety measures at his upmarket venue.

The chef, 42, who featured in Season 2 of the BBC cooking show was hauled before a judge over fire risk measures at his Allium Bar and Grill restaurant and five luxury rooms in Tattenhall, Cheshire.

The premises had been lauded in leading glossy magazines and highbrow newspapers but investigators said it was a safety hazard concluding there was little emergency lighting, just one fire extinguisher in the kitchen, not enough safety signs and linen stored on escape routes.

The 2019 investigation – which said Ellis’s risk of causing harm to his guests was in the ‘top category’ – took place just two years after he opened Allium with a vow of ‘mixing funkiness and opulence’ and the promise: ‘We can be as fresh and vibrant as each day will let us be.’

Ellis, from Bunbury, Cheshire, faced up to two years in jail after he pleaded guilty to a breach of fire regulations at Chester Crown Court. But instead he was ordered to complete 60 hours unpaid work as part of a 12 month community order.

Former Great British Menu star Mark Ellis (pictured) vowed to never run his own restaurant or hotel again as he is spared jail over ‘wholly inadequate’ fire safety measures at his Allium venue

His Allium Bar and Grill restaurant (pictured) and five luxury rooms in Tattenhall, Cheshire had ‘serious fire safety deficiencies’, the court heard

The deficiencies were in relation to means of escape from the premises, fire detection and warning. There were also deficiencies in planning in the event of a fire and the suitability of fire safety equipment at the premises. Pictured is the interior of the Allium

The chef, originally from the Wirral, worked at Simon Radley’s Michelin starred Chester Grosvenor Hotel restaurant and Gordon Ramsay’s Petrus before being appointed head chef at 1851 Restaurant at Peckforton Castle.

He featured on the Great British Menu in 2007 in which he elaborated on his grandmother’s favourite ‘scouse’ recipes whilst growing up in wartime Britain.

Trouble began in 2018 after he fell out with his former business partner at Allium over money. He quit as boss of the restaurant, entered into an Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA) to avoid going bankrupt but stayed on the premises to help out the new owners.

‘Following concerns about the sleeping accommodation being raised by a guest at the premises, serious fire safety deficiencies were identified,’ Joseph Hart, prosecuting counsel for Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service told the court.

The deficiencies were in relation to means of escape from the premises, fire detection and warning, Mr Hart said.

There were also deficiencies in planning in the event of a fire and the suitability of fire safety equipment at the premises.

‘Effectively, there was a wholesale ignorance of proper fire safety measures, not isolated, but across the board,’ Mr Hart argued.

‘Having carried out an audit, Cheshire Fire Authority was of the opinion the deficiencies would pose such a risk to the occupants, the upper floor sleeping accommodation should not be used.’

Ellis had promised diners that Allium would be ‘fresh and vibrant as each day will let us be’. Food featured on the now shuttered restaurant’s menu is pictured above

The fire service’s involvement meant a significant charge to the premises and it was shut down as an accommodation. Ellis insisted he had no formal involvement with the business at the time of the prohibition notices and was ‘only helping out.’ Ellis is pictured with a colleague

A prohibition notice was issued demanding remedial works be carried out but during a subsequent inspection staff were still found to be staying in two of the affected rooms.

Investigators said a lack of proper sealant around loft hatches meant fire in one room could easily be spread to the rest of the building by the roof space.

The fire exit was controlled by a lock and key rather than a standard bar or thumb operated unlocking mechanism whilst battery-operated fire detectors were being used rather than an integrated system.

‘There was little emergency lighting, there was inappropriate signage for means of escape and some areas had no fire detectors at all. There was one fire extinguisher in the kitchen and where was firefighting equipment in other parts of the accommodation, it was without the proper signage. Linen was kept in escape routes in the first-floor accommodation,’ Mr Hart said.

‘There weren’t fire doors with the self-closing mechanism on the escape routes and the main escape out of the sleeping premises could not be opened easily. No fire drills had taken place. There was no record or testing regime of the emergency lighting or the fire extinguishers because there were no maintenance labels attached to them.’

The fire service’s involvement meant a significant charge to the premises and it was shut down as an accommodation.

Mr Hart added: ‘It is quite clear it was a premises where there was a heightened risk of fire because they were premises which contained a kitchen, heat sources, and the risk to individuals was higher because it was sleeping accommodation where people are particularly vulnerable and particularly reliant on fire detection, emergency exits and emergency lighting.’

Ellis insisted he had no formal involvement with the business at the time of the prohibition notices and was ‘only helping out.’

Ellis featured on the Great British Menu in 2007 in which he elaborated on his grandmother’s favourite ‘scouse’ recipes whilst growing up in wartime Britain. He is pictured on the show

But his solicitor advocate Michael Gray said he ‘admitted straight away the problems that the fire service came upon were of his doing.’

‘He should have conducted a far more through fire assessment and accepts that the fire assessment was inadequate. He has expressed his remorse,’ said Mr Gray.

He added: ‘ He had worked hard to get to this position to where he would for the first time have his own enterprise. He was very proud of that enterprise and an article in Cheshire Life talked about how essentially this was Mr Ellis’ life dream.

‘He had previously appeared on the BBC’s Great British Menu and worked for nine years at Peckforton Castle as head chef. His whole life at that time was invested in this. In 2017, he was a very proud man. He now had his own enterprise. It was a brave thing for him to do. And he put everything into it. But it came at a huge cost to him.’

Mr Gray argued that Ellis has been ‘under no illusion’ that he could be imprisoned over the fire safety case.

The solicitor said: ‘He knew that from day one. But for him there’s more. Because, from what was an exciting time for him – at one point there was an article written in the Daily Telegraph which highly commended him – it all fell apart fairly quickly.

‘The business started in summer of 2017 and by the summer of the following year Mr Ellis was in dispute with his funding partner. They were not seeing eye to eye and he in fact resigned and was going to exit the business. He incurred a huge amount of debt and entered into an IVA as he did not want to go bankrupt and had debts of about £30,000 to £40,000.

‘At the time he said he would help transition the business to the new owner but when she was in hospital he received a call to come to the Allium as the fire service were present. Mr Ellis made it absolutely clear to the visiting fire officers that he was just helping out but he could still sign documents. He will never attempt to run his own business, a restaurant hotel type business again.’

Sentencing Ellis the judge Mr Recorder Lawrence MacDonald also ordered him to pay £3,000 prosecution costs.

He said: ‘Mr Ellis is a renowned chef with a long history of culinary accomplishments behind him and Allium was the fulfilment of his life dream to have his own establishment.

‘Regrettably for Mr Ellis there was falling out for him and partners so control of the premises passed to another company. When Mr Ellis was in control of the business, he did attempt to make a fire risk assessment but I am afraid to say that was wholly inadequate. He wholly failed to grapple with the relevant fire risks and he really should have got professional assistance at that point.

Deborah Cruse, 51, (pictured) whose company TFC took over Allium as the fire safety investigation was launched, admitted breaching a fire safety prohibition notice and was sentenced to an 18 month community order 150 hours of unpaid work. She was ordered to pay £3,000 costs

Ellis (pictured) was ordered to complete 60 hours unpaid work as part of a 12 month community order. He now has debts of £40,000 suffers from bouts of anxiety and is currently working as an executive chef at the four star Crewe Hall Hotel and Spa to pay off his creditors

‘Fire is unpredictable and can widely and quickly spread and can have unpredictable and often fatal consequences. But this was a business in which he had put his life savings and life work and very regrettably it did not work out for him resulting in a considerable financial debt, which he is paying through means of the IVA.

‘The effect of him personally has been in the form of anxiety and depression and I do not underestimate the personal effects. It seems to me plainly these offences have crossed the custody threshold as the courts take extremely seriously breaches of the fire safety regulations because such breaches can so easily lead to death and serious harm.

‘But although offences were exposing people to risk, fortunately, there was not an actual fire that highlighted those risks. There was not actual danger experienced by people trying to escape from a fire. It is just fortunate that a member of the public drew the attention of the fire service to these deficiencies.’

Mother-of-two Deborah Cruse, 51, from Ellesmere Port, whose company TFC took over Allium as the fire safety investigation was launched, admitted breaching a fire safety prohibition notice and was sentenced to an 18 month community order 150 hours of unpaid work. She was ordered to pay £3,000 costs.

Ellis now has debts of £40,000 suffers from bouts of anxiety and is currently working as an executive chef at the four star Crewe Hall Hotel and Spa to pay off his creditors, the court heard.

Allium underwent a name change in 2019 but shut down a year later.

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