Michelin-starred chef sacked by hotel after hosting private party

‘I am understandably very upset and disappointed with the dismissal under these circumstances’

A CHEF has been sacked from his job at a Mayfair hotel’s Michelin-starred restaurant after hosting a party for his friends when the restaurant was shut.

Alyn Williams’s announcement of his departure from the restaurant that bears his name in the Westbury, west London, was greeted with dismay by the culinary world.

He claimed that he was sacked for gross misconduct after inviting friends to the restaurant on a Sunday lunchtime when it was closed. Mr Williams said he was let go without notice or compensation after having an appeal rejected for using the restaurant without permission.

Although he accepts that he threw the party, the chef claims that all food and drink had been supplied by him and that there was no damage or loss.

He said: “I am understandably very upset and disappointed with the dismissal under these circumstances, particularly since I have been employed by the hotel for the past eight years.

“I have had an exemplary employment record and was responsible, through the restaurant, for bringing prestige to the hotel, achieving a Michelin star, which we maintained for eight successive years, and four AA rosettes for five successive years.”

Alyn Williams at the Westbury opened in 2011 and was awarded a Michelin star two years later. Other restaurateurs and chefs have revealed their shock at his dismissal.

Aidan Mcgee, the head chef at Corrigan’s in Mayfair, described Mr Williams as “one of the great chefs in London and England and all round nice guy”, adding “truly shocking”.

Oisín Rogers, another Mayfair neighbour who runs The Guinea Grill steakhouse, said: “Lovely man and decent.”

Some said it was a poor business decision. John Abbey, head chef at The

Abbot’s Elm in Huntingdon, Cambs, said: “That seems both a huge overreaction and a terrible business decision. Unless there’s more to it. Alyn Williams will succeed wherever he goes. The Westbury have a big job on their hands now.”

The chef has asked the restaurant to rename itself so it no longer gives the impression he works there, and to take his name off the website.

Others pointed out that chefs should not lend their names to restaurants they do not own.

Damian Wawrzyniak, who owns House of Feasts in Peterborough, said: “I would never understand chefs giving their own names to restaurants which are not owned by them! There should be trademark and once chef leaving place, logo is off the wall!”

Last year, James Cochran, the awardwinning chef, became embroiled in a row with a restaurant in east London that used to employ him for continuing to use his name and picture. It also attempted to offer restaurants the chance to buy his name and recipes to put on