you in your business, but all restaurants right now, and that is a very tough economic climate. mmm. and actually it s been a climate building for years. and perhaps you were knocked back and many others were, more than anything, by the covid pandemic. and ijust wonder, as you reflect now on what that meant to your business and many other restaurant businesses in this country and around the world, just how tough was it? it was incredibly tough. and i will never forget those days where i had to come in here to check the premises, obviously, for insurance reasons, and to make sure everything was all right and to come in to. because you shut down. for the first time in your family history with le gavroche, it shut its doors. you had to, of course. we had to. lockdown was lockdown. but to come in here. ..lights out, the smell of a stale restaurant, the dust everywhere made me weep. did it? and made me cry. i sat down over there on one of the banquettes and just put my head in my
michel roux, welcome to hardtalk. it is a great pleasure to be sitting in this restaurant, one of the most famous in london, been in your family for the best part of six decades. the countdown to closure has begun. how do you feel about that? incredibly mixed emotions. it s. it s obviously happiness because there s light at the end of the tunnel, and by that, i mean not in a negative way, it s sort of. ..getting control of my life again. and then very, very sad emotions because it s the end of an era and it s. i also feel sad and emotional for all my team here, some of which, in fact, most of which i deem as family. and some of them, we ve grown up together, basically. so very, very mixed emotions. and the last the last week, i know i am going to be a wreck. why? why are you shutting down? because you could fill every table here for the foreseeable future. everybody wants to come and eat here if they can afford it. so why shut it? yeah, i mean, the business is successful an
that is hitting notjust you in your business, but all restaurants right now, and that is a very tough economic climate. mmm. and actually it s been a climate building for years. and perhaps you were knocked back and many others were, more than anything, by the covid pandemic. and ijust wonder, as you reflect now on what that meant to your business and many other restaurant businesses in this country and around the world, just how tough was it? it was incredibly tough. and i will never forget those days where i had to come in here to check the premises, obviously, for insurance reasons, and to make sure everything was all right and to come in to. because you shut down. for the first time in your family history with le gavroche, it shut its doors. you had to, of course. we had to. lockdown was lockdown. but to come in here. ..lights out, the smell of a stale restaurant, the dust everywhere made me weep. did it? and made me cry. i sat down over there on one of the banquettes and
been in your family for the best part of six decades. the countdown to closure has begun. how do you feel about that? incredibly mixed emotions. it s. it s obviously happiness because there s light at the end of the tunnel, and by that, i mean not in a negative way, it s sort of. ..getting control of my life again. and then very, very sad emotions because it s the end of an era. and it s. i also feel sad and emotional for all my team here. some of which, in fact, most of which i deem as family. and some of them, we ve grown up together, basically. so very, very mixed emotions. and the last the last week, i know i am going to be a wreck. why? why are you shutting down? because you could fill every table here for the foreseeable future. everybody wants to come and eat here if they can afford it. so why shut it? yeah, i mean, the business is successful and it s. ..it is going well. reservations are very good especially since i announced that we re closing, it s gone crazy. b
again taking hold from the west and a warm front will give us some rain to the north and west. further south and east, largely dry, a lot of cloud and some hill fog. more of a westerly wind but temperatures back up westerly wind but temperatures back up into double figures. it is not set to last again because another cold front brings a brisk north westerly wind through thursday, very strong winds, gales in the north of scotland, 70 80 mph and went on i was seacoast and possibly a coastal search on north east facing coso look at the forecast, may be blizzard like conditions with wintry showers across scotland. and that s bbc news at ten. on bbc one, it s time tojoin our colleagues for the news where you are. goodnight. this is bbc news. we ll have the headlines at the top of the hour, as newsday continues straight after hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk. i m stephen sackur. 50 years ago, london had a terrible reputation forfood. generally, it was bland, stodgy and overcooked. b