Jamie Oliver Loses His Lunch (and Restaurant) in U.K. Riots

Famed chef condemns troublemakers who destroyed his Birmingham, England eatery

By Josh Grossberg Aug 09, 2011 5:57 PMTags
London Riots, Jamie OliverDan Kitwood/Getty Images

When Jamie Oliver hatched his idea for Food Revolution, we imagine he didn't expect his fellow countrymen to take the revolution part so seriously!

The celebrity British chef announced on Twitter today that the riots sweeping across the U.K. over the past few days just claimed his Italiian eatery in Birmingham.

Call it a recipe for disaster.

"Sadly my restaurant in Birmingham got smashed up windows all gone whole area closed, cant open, staff and customers all safe!!," he tweeted.

The establishment, Jamie's Italian, is part of a chain. The Birmingham location has an occupancy of 270 and is located in the famed Bullring shopping center.

According to the healthy food guru, the riots were hardly the protests of a beaten-down working class venting their frustration in the face of Britain's new austerity program.

"So sad to see whats happening in UK with these Riots!all gone mad !time to get our country back now we need 2 come down hard on these idiots," he wrote.

One Oliver establishment that miraculously remained untouched, he said, was his Recipease cooking school in Clapham Junction, which was one of two shops in the neighborhood that didn't have their windows smashed in.

The restaurateur offered his thanks to police and emergency services for helping communities deal with the unrest, and he also praised the clean up effort by volunteers.

Oliver isn't the only famous Brit disturbed by the rioting.

"Reading all of your tweets is braking my heart! My country is being destroyed by CHILDREN," Kelly Osbourne tweeted on Monday.

"What is going on in Britain tonight is a form of terrorism and should be treated as such," CNN host Piers Morgan argued on his Twitter page, later adding, "I sincerely hope the police have been authorised to use 'whatever force necessary' against any rioters."

Newly married singer Lily Allen took a slightly more sympathetic view in a tweet to a follower, citing underlying social issues for the upheaval.

"I don't think this is about tellies and trainers, the youth are frustrated and I can see why," she tweeted. "The fact that there are so many young disaffected/ opportunistic/ robbers amongst us, would suggest there's a big problem."

Meanwhile, according to Screen Daily, Sony Corp. said a fire suspected to have been started by rioters partially damaged a warehouse and may have destroyed up to 30 million Blu-rays discs, CDs and DVDs. Authorities are investigating.

Here's hoping they get things under control and soon.