There’s something quietly admirable about a chef who’s been written off more than once and is still running a restaurant, still shaping menus, and still talking honestly about the pressures that nearly broke him. Antony Worrall Thompson has had the full British celebrity arc: the TV fame, the restaurant empire, the very public collapse, and then the slower, quieter rebuild that most tabloids never bothered to cover.
With a culinary career spanning almost four decades, Antony became a well-known face of television in the 1990s, entertaining audiences with his charm and sense of humour and an absolute passion for food. That’s the official version. The real version is messier, more interesting, and honestly more worth reading.
Who Is Antony Worrall Thompson?
Born on 1 May 1951 in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, Antony Worrall Thompson comes from a family deeply rooted in the performing arts. His parents, both actors, inspired him to pursue a career that balanced creativity and performance. He ended up channelling that performer’s instinct into cooking, which is probably why he worked so well on camera.
His educational journey took him to the King’s School, Canterbury. His grandmother helped pay for his schooling there. Just outside Canterbury, an aunt of his ran a pub, and he went there often on Sundays to help out in the kitchen. That early exposure to pub cooking, unpretentious and feeding real people, would turn out to shape his whole philosophy more than any formal training.
His first big break in the kitchens of London came when he was given a chance as sous chef at Brinkley’s in London in 1978, where he was made head chef just a year later.
The Restaurant That Started It All
Antony Worrall Thompson’s rise to fame began in the early 1980s when he opened his first restaurant, Ménage à Trois, in the prestigious Knightsbridge area of London. The restaurant’s concept was unusual, focusing solely on starters and desserts, which garnered considerable attention for its creativity.
That concept, starters and puddings only, no main courses, sounds like something a food influencer would dream up today. In 1981 it was genuinely original. It got people talking, got the critics writing, and established AWT as someone who did things differently.
He kept opening restaurants across London and beyond through the 1980s and 1990s. Notting Grill, Kew Grill, the Greyhound pub in Peppard, Oxfordshire, where he’d spend nearly two decades building a loyal local following. The restaurants weren’t fine dining in the stuffy sense. They were the kind of places where you’d actually want to eat.
The TV Career That Made Him Famous
Antony made the transition into small screen success in 1998 with a role as resident chef and presenter on BBC 2’s Food and Drink programme. He then went on to consolidate his popular TV presence with regular appearances on Ready Steady Cook, as well as stints on celebrity specials. Other television ventures include This Morning, Richard and Judy, and Masterchef. He also hosted Saturday Kitchen, and fronted ITV’s Daily Cooks Challenge.
Ready Steady Cook was the show that embedded him in British living rooms. The format, two chefs, a bag of mystery ingredients, a time limit, was made for someone with his energy. He was quick, opinionated, and actually funny. Not trying-to-be-funny funny. Genuinely sharp.
He took part in the second series of I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here! in 2003, and has also enjoyed success writing cookery books and for several British newspapers and magazines. He writes for the Daily Express newspaper and the BBC’s Good Food magazine. The books sold. The columns ran for years. At his peak, he was one of the most visible chefs in the UK, alongside names like Gordon Ramsay and Jamie Oliver, though his style was always warmer and less combative than Ramsay’s.
When Things Fell Apart
The story of Antony Worrall Thompson includes two very public low points, and he’s been honest about both.
In February 2009 the chef’s restaurant holding company was placed into administration, leading to the loss of 60 jobs and the closure of four restaurants. The closures at Notting Hill, West London; the Lamb Inn and the Greyhound in Oxfordshire; and the Barnes Grill in southwest London came after Lloyds turned down the chef’s request for a £200,000 overdraft. Worrall Thompson said in an interview with the Mail on Sunday that he was “furious” that the banks “didn’t support” him.
He kept the Kew Grill in southwest London and the Windsor Grill in Berkshire open using his own money. That decision matters. A lot of people in his position would have walked away entirely. He didn’t.
Then, in 2012, came the shoplifting incident. He was cautioned by police after being arrested for shoplifting from Tesco. As one of the most famous chefs in Britain, his offending received considerable press attention, with The Sun reporting it as “Ready Steady Crook.”
Antony Worrall Thompson blamed his shoplifting on his “shocking childhood.” He believes, after speaking to a counsellor, that the behaviour was rooted in deeper issues. He has since acknowledged that his actions were premised on mental health issues, and he preferred to tell the truth. He didn’t hide, didn’t go quiet for years, and didn’t pretend it hadn’t happened. That transparency, at the time, was unusual for someone of his profile.
What Antony Worrall Thompson Is Doing Now
Worrall Thompson, 73, still runs the Grill Off the Green restaurant in Kew.
Formally the Kew Grill, the restaurant is tucked away just off Kew Green. Antony Worrall Thompson’s cuisine is described as grilled to perfection, with a splendid selection of meats, burgers, and fish, complemented by a delightful grill menu. The bistro menu also offers timeless classics with global influences, with dishes honed over 50 years by Antony and an expertly curated wine list.
Reviews of the Grill Off the Green are consistently strong. Guests cite the steaks, grilled lamb chops, and what several reviewers describe as the best chunky chips they’ve had. It’s the kind of restaurant a chef runs when they’ve stopped trying to prove something and just want to cook well. There’s no performance. The food does the talking.
By 2025, Antony Worrall Thompson was back in the public conversation quietly, not on a cooking programme, but sharing candid opinions about the future of food television. He said that contemporary food television requires fresh energy and younger talent, and that the industry is finding it hard to provide new chefs with new opportunities.
On the hospitality crisis facing the UK, he’s been blunt. Worrall Thompson said that the hospitality industry was struggling in the wake of recent government policies and the prolonged impact of the coronavirus pandemic. He said: “It’s tough to get staff and it’s tough to get customers and it’s going to be a very lean 2025.”
His former pub, the Greyhound in Peppard, which he ran for nearly two decades before handing it over, closed permanently in December 2024 after the new owner cited ongoing financial pressures and upcoming budget changes. Worrall Thompson said: “You spend 18 years in love with a place and then within 18 months it disappears. It’s a crying shame really as it’s such a lovely place.”
Mental Health Advocacy and the Hospitality Conversation
This is the part of his story that doesn’t get enough attention. Mental health is now a core part of Antony’s public message. He speaks honestly about pressure, burnout, and silence in the hospitality industry. His voice adds credibility to calls for better support systems in kitchens, and by sharing his experience, he helps remove stigma.
Professional kitchens are notoriously brutal environments. The hours, the heat, the hierarchy, the culture of toughing things out. Worrall Thompson went through a visible breakdown at the height of his fame and came out the other side talking about it. That’s a meaningful thing in an industry that still struggles with this.
The Cookware and Books Legacy
His branded cookware range, marketed to bring professional-style cooking into everyday British kitchens, is now viewed as legacy cookware. It’s still found through resale or remaining stock, and while modern brands now dominate, his cookware represents a time when celebrity chefs shaped home cooking trends. That legacy still holds nostalgic value for many cooks.
He’s also a prolific cookbook author. Titles across his career covered everything from low-fat cooking to meat-focused grilling, reflecting the same range you see on his current restaurant menu.
The Net Worth Question
People search this a lot. The honest answer: in 2025, there is no confirmed public figure for his net worth. What is clear is that his income structure has changed. Rather than extreme wealth, his finances now suggest stability and control. The restaurant empire of the 2000s is gone, but the Kew restaurant is his and it’s busy. The speaking engagements continue. Great British Speakers lists him as an active speaker for corporate events. The cookbook royalties and food writing still come in.
He’s not in the Gordon Ramsay wealth bracket. He probably never was. But he’s a 73-year-old man who owns a well-regarded restaurant, still shapes its menus, and hasn’t had to compromise what he does to stay relevant. That’s a different kind of success.
FAQ
What is Antony Worrall Thompson doing now? He’s running the Grill Off the Green restaurant in Kew, southwest London, which was formerly called the Kew Grill. He’s also involved in food commentary, occasional media appearances, and mental health advocacy within the hospitality sector.
Why did Antony Worrall Thompson’s restaurants close? In 2009, four of his restaurants closed after his holding company went into administration, following a failed request for a £200,000 bank overdraft from Lloyds. He kept the Kew Grill and Windsor Grill open personally.
What happened with the Antony Worrall Thompson shoplifting incident? In January 2012, he was given a formal police caution after being caught shoplifting from a Tesco in Henley, Oxfordshire. He later spoke publicly about underlying mental health issues being a factor.
Where is Antony Worrall Thompson’s restaurant? The Grill Off the Green is located just off Kew Green in southwest London. It’s the renamed, continuing version of his original Kew Grill.
Was Antony Worrall Thompson on Ready Steady Cook? Yes. He was one of the show’s most recognisable regular chefs, appearing throughout the 1990s and 2000s.
A chef who launched one of London’s most unusual restaurant concepts in 1981, became a fixture on British TV for two decades, went through very public financial and personal crises, and is now quietly running a Kew restaurant with a menu built over 50 years of cooking. Antony Worrall Thompson’s story is genuinely worth knowing, and the Grill Off the Green is genuinely worth booking.
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