Cookham Discussion Board

Heston Blumenthal's exclusive Fat Duck restaurant has been forced to close for two weeks after an outbreak of coronavirus among staff.

The illustrious restaurant, which has three Michelin stars and is in Bray, Berkshire, emailed diners to inform them of the closure after several staff members returned positive tests.

Mr Blumenthal's £255-per-head flagship restaurant only reopened on August 15 after closing for several months because of the national lockdown.

It is understood to be the first three Michelin-starred restaurant in the country to be affected.

The self-imposed 'circuit breaker' started on October 14 and will last for at least two weeks. 

A spokesperson told MailOnline: 'These are hugely unprecedented and difficult times and since we reopened The Fat Duck in August, we have stringently followed all of the Government's Covid safety advice and guidelines.

As part of this, to continuously monitor the safety of our staff and our guests, we have been proactively testing our full team on a regular basis.

'Unfortunately in the past few days, a number of employees have returned positive tests, which has resulted in them self-isolating at home.

'At The Fat Duck we pride ourselves on providing the very best experience but more important is the wellbeing of our staff and guests which always comes first.

'We have therefore decided to close the restaurant as of 14th October for the mandatory two-week self-isolation period. We have made this proactive decision which we hope will act as a circuit-breaker and ensure Covid-19 doesn't spread to our other staff.

'We want to be in front of the situation so we are working closely with the relevant organisations and local authorities and will continue to monitor the situation during these next two weeks, taking all the necessary steps to minimise risk to anyone else in the business.'