Bites: Ramsay's nightmares not over yet

It has been a bad year so far for alumni of Channel 4's Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares.

The programme, in which Gordon Ramsay shows failing restaurateurs the way forward through an ingenious combination of contemplative chin-holding, shouting and swearing, can no longer hail Brighton's Momma Cherri's as one of its brightest success stories. The soul-food restaurant, which appeared on the show three years ago, has gone under with debts of £200,000. Now in the hands of administrators, it will reopen under the daughter of its founder, Charita Jones.

Meanwhile The Granary, in Titchfield, Hampshire, which appeared in an episode just before Christmas, has been destroyed in a mysterious blaze. Investigators suspect arson after an earlier unsuccessful attempt to burn down the Grade II-listed restaurant was captured on CCTV a fortnight previously. The police suggested it could be the work of a Ramsay obsessive with a grudge, although it should be noted that I was out of the country at the time.