Great British Menu star Mark Ellis has been spared a jail sentence after he was accused of endangering guests at his upmarket restaurant and hotel during a major fire safety investigation.
The chef, 42, who featured on the BBC cooking show, was hauled before a judge after operating “wholly inadequate” 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 damning 2019 investigation which also 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.''
At Chester Crown Court, Ellis faced up to two years jail after he pleaded guilty to a breach of fire regulations but was ordered to complete 60 hours unpaid work as part of a 12 month community order after he vowed never to run his own restaurant or hotel again.
The father of one 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. Allium underwent a name change in 2019 but shut down a year later.
Ellis 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 nan’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 IVA (Individual Voluntary Arrangement) to avoid going bankrupt but stayed on the premisis to help out the new owners.
Joseph Hart, prosecuting counsel for Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service said: “Following concerns about the sleeping accommodation being raised by a guest at the premises, serious fire safety deficiencies were identified.
''They included deficiencies in relation to means of escape from the premises, fire detection and warning. There were 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.
“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.''
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.
Mr Hart added: "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.
“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 involvement of the fire service meant a significant charge to the premises. 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.''
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.”
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 has been under no illusion that from the fire safety case he could risk imprisonment. 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 £30-40,000.
“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.
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