Crime

Enraged Restaurant Landlord Resorts to Grease Flooding, Denies ‘Ogre’ Behavior

The chef, in happier times.
The chef, in happier times. Photo: Daily Telegraph

This is slimy: In Cornwall, England, a jilted landlord tried to flood a restaurant with grease to get revenge on his chef tenant. The chef in question is Michelin winner Kevin Viner, a tabloid fixture in Britain for his “celebrity lifestyle” and charismatic ways. Apparently the once-jolly Viner had long feared his loose-canon landlord, Eric Randle: “I was crying all the time. I was in a state. I had put my whole future into the restaurant. I am a reputable chef and my life has been destroyed.”

Randle, who says he’s been unfairly painted as an “ogre,” was slapped with a 28-day jail sentence for breaching an injunction that prevents him from interfering with Viner’s Restaurant and Bar, because this isn’t his first genius prank.

In July 2011, Randle was ordered to pay the chef’s hefty legal bill after he admitted cutting off the restaurant’s electricity, forcing the the hapless Viner to improvise with a grill during a wedding party. He also publicly threatened to “finish” the chef.

And we thought Todd English had landlord problems!

Landlord Forced Michelin Star Chef to cook on BBQ and Plotted to Flood His Kitchen With Grease [Telegraph]

Related: Todd English in Hot Water (Again) Over Missed Rent Payments

Enraged Restaurant Landlord Resorts to Grease Flooding, Denies