Gordon Ramsay loses court battle over S$1.3M rent on London pub

LONDON — Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay is facing a kitchen nightmare after a British judge ruled him personally liable for rent on a London gastropub.

Ramsay accused his father-in-law, Christopher Hutcheson, of using an autopen machine to forge his signature on a document making Ramsay personal guarantor for the 640,000-pound (S$1.3 million) annual rent.

But High Court judge Paul Morgan ruled today (Jan 20) that the contract was binding. He said that when the lease was signed, Hutcheson “was acting within the wide general authority conferred on him by Mr Ramsay” to manage his business.

Ramsay fired Hutcheson, the father of his wife Tana, in 2010.

Ramsay is internationally known for a string of acclaimed restaurants, popular cookbooks and television shows including “Kitchen Nightmares”, “Hell’s Kitchen” and “The F Word”. AP