A fly in the soup at the River Café as Lord Rogers gets tough with his wif

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September 10, 2005

A fly in the soup at the River Café as Lord Rogers gets tough with his wife
By Dominic Walsh, Will Pavia and Alan Hamilton



THE joint owner of the iconic London restaurant where Jamie Oliver once slaved over a hot stove may be forced to sell up because her husband’s pension fund is demanding an eye-watering increase in rent.
Lady Rogers, wife of one of Britain’s leading architects, owns the River Café in Hammersmith with her business partner Rose Gray and has been satisfying lovers of Italian cuisine at the same premises since 1987. On the back of their triumph in the kitchen, Lady Rogers and Ms Gray revealed the secrets of their success in The River Café Cook Book.

The book’s quick, uncomplicated recipes were exactly what busy family cooks were looking for and quickly became a cookery bestseller with more than one million copies sold around the world. The River Café Cook Book Two followed shortly as did a series of follow ups.

Now the partners have been told that they can stay on their home turf only if they agree to a substantial rise in their current rent of £87,000. The landlord is none other than the pension fund of the Richard Rogers Partnership.

Tough negotiations have been in progress for many months but the marital connection has ensured that they have not descended into acrimony. There has still been no resolution and the restaurant premises, which have been quietly offered to a number of top chefs, including Oliver, may now pass into the hands of Gordon Ramsay.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,175-1773405,00.html