EDEN CONFIDENTIAL: Gino D’Acampo leaves a bad taste in the disbursement of the company

Gino D’Acampo has such a friendly face that ITV chose him to host a revamped version of the Family Fortunes game show.

Yet the smiling TV chef can barely show his face to the suppliers of his bankrupt Italian restaurant chain.

My Pasta Bar went into liquidation last month, owing nearly £5million, including £113,000 to HMRC and £37,000 in wages and holiday pay to staff.

Now a boss at one of the 49 companies that owed the money has spoken out against D’Acampo, 46, saying he doesn’t think the chief is fit to serve on the board. administration of a company.

“It’s scandalous”, launches the creditor, who wishes to remain anonymous for the moment. “Gino is taking advantage of his fame, and a lot of small businesses might think he’ll pay them back because of it.

“Well, I have news for them, he won’t. I wouldn’t lend him any more money, no. Luckily, we’re a reasonably sized company, and while we don’t like to lose money, we can afford it. But many of the people who supplied his businesses are artisans. It is supposed to offer high quality products. If they don’t pay their debts, they will go bankrupt.

The businessman adds: “I would certainly doubt D’Acampo’s suitability to be a director of a limited liability company, that’s for sure.”

A separate business, Gino D’Acampo’s My Restaurants, had to be rescued last year with a £12.9million bailout by co-investors including Icelandic bosses Sir Malcolm Walker and Tarsem Dhaliwal.

D’Acampo, who declines to comment, urged people last year to stop blaming Covid for business failures.

However, last month he claimed the pandemic was the reason My Pasta Bar closed, saying: ‘We tried it for ten years and then Covid came along and I thought, ‘You know what? ? We have to close. ‘

When the Daily Mail conducted an investigation last month into the chaotic governance of Sistah Space, the charity founded by Ngozi Fulani, the woman who accused Prince William’s godmother Lady Susan Hussey of racial ‘abuse’ during From a reception at Buckingham Palace, a spokesman insisted his affairs were now in order.

The charity said: ‘In our March 2021 trustee report, we were open and transparent about the staffing issues we have faced since the start of the pandemic, which has led to some issues with reporting. of our accounts, but we have since hired an independent accounting firm with the aim of ensuring that this does not happen again.

So I’m surprised to hear that Sistah Space is filing its final accounts late. “Charity reporting is seven days late,” confirms the Charity Commission.

No one at Sistah Space was available for comment. Presumably preparing for their next reception at the palace. . .

Bloomin’ eck! Sgt Cawood trades cops for stores

After facing off against a bloodthirsty and murderous maniac in Happy Valley on Sunday, Sarah Lancashire needed something to help her relax.

What could be better than a trip to the stores to buy spring bulbs and a French stick?

The 58-year-old actress, who plays Sergeant Catherine Cawood in the hit BBC crime drama, was spotted near her home in Twickenham, south-west London, which she shares with her husband Peter Salmon, who appears to have participated in the wars in real life. . The television producer, 66, walked with a crutch.

The couple, who married in 2001 and have a son, are said to be setting up a production company together, after filing paperwork for Via Pictures last month.

Royal Ascot will be particularly spectacular this year, due to the coronation of King Charles seven weeks earlier, says TV chef Raymond Blanc, who will serve a pan-fried Scottish langoustine bouillabaisse to well-heeled racegoers.

“It’s going to be Coronation Ascot and the girls are going to be prettier,” the French-born chef tells me at the Royal Ascot Food & Drink preview at Carousel London. “Their hats will be even more colorful and flamboyant.”

Speaking about his menu choices, Blanc, 73, explains, “The king is going to want to eat something pure and organically grown.

“He even changed France.

Millionaire Bannatyne celebrates his 74th birthday, he will be 24…

Duncan Bannatyne likes to age shamefully.

The health club mogul and former Dragons’ Den investor celebrated his 74th birthday with a wild party aboard a yacht in Miami, where he could be seen raving with his hands in the air.

He was joined by his third wife, Nigora, 32 years his junior. She then presented him with a cake as they dined at Italian restaurant Cipriani Downtown Miami. “I had great company, good food and alcohol,” says the son of the Glasgow founder, who is said to have amassed a fortune of over £400million.

The divorce from his second wife, Joanne McCue, is said to have cost him £345m. He met Nigora when she was working as a dental hygienist on Harley Street.

Ralph Fiennes’ new girlfriend is a married woman. Friends of Amelia Richards, who was pictured with the Harry Potter star in Rome in my column on Saturday, tell me she has been married for nearly a decade to aristocratic snapper James Lindsay, 61, son of one of Queen Camilla’s best friends, Lady Amabel Lindsay.

“James is absolutely devastated,” the pal says. “He agreed with Amelia last week that they should go their separate ways, but he had no idea of ​​his friendship with Fiennes.”

Amelia has two sons from a previous relationship.

“James treated them like his own,” the friend adds.

In which attic would you find a set of 18th century candlesticks, three silver brandy warmers and a royal emblazoned baluster wine glass dating from 1760? The answer is Chequers, the Prime Minister’s country retreat. Exotic bric-a-brac is auctioned off at Bonhams, after trustees concluded the attic was filled with ‘items no longer in use’.