With 350 unfilled jobs, I’ll have to close my restaurants in new year, says Jason Atherton

LONDON celebrity chef Jason Atherton has warned he will have to start closing thriving restaurants in the new year because it has become impossible to recruit staff.

- Jonathan Prynn

The Michelin-starred restaurateur, who has seven venues in the capital, including his Mayfair flagship Pollen Street Social, said he will only have a big enough team to operate “two or three” effectively if the recruitment crisis does not ease.

Atherton, pictured, said he has 350 unfilled vacancies — representing about a third of his workforce — and faces having to make “heartbreaking” decisions as a result of the unprecedented shortfall. He said January will be the “crunch time” when he would have to decide whether to mothball restaurants and just pay the rent until the crisis eases.