Members of Animal Rebellion occupied Restaurant Gordon Ramsay on Hospital Road, Chelsea at around 6pm on Saturday (Animal Rebellion/PA)
(Picture: Animal Rebellion)Climate change activists occupied Gordon Ramsay’s three-star Michelin restaurant in Chelsea.
Members of Animal Rebellion entered Restaurant Gordon Ramsay on Hospital Road, Chelsea at around 6pm on Saturday.
Wearing smart casual clothing they sat at tables reserved for guests of the high-end restaurant and produced mock menus outlining the environmental costs of items served on the restaurant’s menu, including steak and veal.
In a statement, the group said they left the restaurant after it closed. They say their demands include a plant-based food system and the creation of a mass-rewilding programme.
Lucia Alexander, a 39-year-old auxiliary nurse from the east of England, said the restaurant was a “perfect example” of inequality in the UK.
The climate crisis is not stopping, and neither are we! If you’re inspired by what you see, sign up to take direct action with us in Spring 2023: https://t.co/trdIZhWgMP pic.twitter.com/LS8KrSggxq
— Animal Rebellion (@RebelsAnimal) November 19, 2022
“This restaurant is the perfect example of the inequality we face in the UK right now. Whilst Gordon Ramsay serves food costing a minimum of £155 per person, more than two million people are relying on food banks in this cost-of-living crisis,” she said in a statement provided by the group.
“Instead of restaurants making colossal profits at the expense of animals, workers, and our climate, we need to feed everyone by supporting farmers and fishing communities in a transition to a plant-based food system.
“A plant-based food system requires 75% less farmland to grow food, allowing us to feed millions of additional people without the reliance on exploitative and inefficient animal farming industries. This is the answer to the cost-of-living and climate crises.”
A spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police said that no arrests were made,
“Police were called to a restaurant in Royal Hospital Road, SW3, shortly before 18.30hrs on Saturday, 19 November to reports of a group of protesters refusing to leave the premises,” they said.
“Officers attended. The restaurant was closed, and the protesters left. There were no arrests.”
A spokesperson for Restaurant Gordon Ramsay called the protest “incredibly inappropriate and deeply disrespectful”.
“Everyone is entitled to their opinions and beliefs,” she said.
“However, to force your way into a restaurant, disturbing hard-working staff going about their jobs and ruining the evening of guests who have waited months for their reservations is incredibly inappropriate and deeply disrespectful.”
It comes after two activists from the group were arrested on Friday after reportedly approaching Sir David Attenborough at a Michelin-starred restaurant on the south coast.
Dorset Police said Emma Smart, 45, was arrested on Thursday evening after allegedly causing a disturbance and refusing to comply with officers after they asked her to leave Catch At The Old Fish Market in Weymouth.
Animal Rebellion said she approached the table where Sir David was dining in an attempt to deliver a letter to him, and shared images of her being dragged away by police at 8.45pm.
Smart, an ecologist from Weymouth, said she wanted a five-minute conversation with Sir David about the need to address climate change.
