Yotam Ottolenghi: restaurant business 'on our knees'

But Mr Ottolenghi said restrictions in tier-2 areas where people from different households are no longer permitted to mix indoors had hit business. 

“We are on our knees now,” he said. 

A year ago his restaurants were full and the week before London was placed into tier-2 occupancy was at 50 per cent. 

“Now we are at 10 to 20 per cent. This is just not a viable place for a restaurant to be,” he said. 

“I am sick of worry for the jobs of my staff and the staff of other restaurants and hospitality businesses across the land that are stuck in this cursed tier-2 category which deprives us of oxygen but doesn’t give  us any support. It’s ludicrous.” 

But he said if businesses could get two-thirds of staff wages covered – as they are in tier-3 – it would be “a very blessed start and I think we might be able to work around it.”