A GORDON Ramsay trained chef has closed his top Michelin Star restaurant in Birmingham.
The Cornwall Street restaurant closed its doors for the final time on Saturday, October 12.
After serving guests for 17 years, Purnell’s will no longer be open for business.
Chef Glynn Purnell described the flagship restaurant as his “proudest moment”.
Having opened the site in 2007, Chef Glynn had previously trained with Gordon Ramsay, Claude Bosi and Gary Rhodes.
The chef suggested that the closure comes as “things have moved on'” and the pressures faced by the hospitality industry have contributed to the decision.
He added that he was “heartbroken” to be closing the business.
Glynn said: “Purnell’s has been my proudest moment, and I am heartbroken to say that after 17 years we have served our final guest. It fills my heart with pride to say that Purnell’s was a roaring success from day one.
“It won every accolade going, from a Michelin star just a year after opening, to the Craft Guild of Chefs New Restaurant of the Year Award, and the AA Restaurant of the Year Award.
“Purnell’s has been a place where I have had the privilege of working with some of the greatest talent I’ve ever known, and where I have trained people who are now working in some of the best restaurants in the world, from New York to Australia.
“However, the world doesn’t stand still. Things have moved on, and times have changed. In this current climate, no-one is bulletproof.
“I would like to thank everybody who has worked for me over the years. I have always had a team who are like family to me, who have worked with creativity, passion and enthusiasm to make Purnell’s the success it has been for 17 years.
“I’d also like to thank everybody who has ever eaten here and celebrated life here. I’ve raised a glass with guests who have come through our doors to mark birthdays, graduations, first dates, weddings, anniversaries, and many more life events, and I’m thrilled that they chose Purnell’s for all those occasions.
“Plates by Purnell’s on Edmund Street in Birmingham and The Mount by Glynn Purnell in Henley-in-Arden remain open for business as usual, and I will be devoting my time between these two establishments. I’m excited for the future and the next steps in my journey; this isn’t the last you’ve heard of the Yummy Brummie.
“I’m truly honoured to have played my part in the culinary history of this great city.”
After the closure of Carter’s of Moseley last year, Birmingham now has three Michelin Star restaurants – Opheem, which holds two stars, Adam’s and Simpsons, which both hold one.
It comes after a spate of Michelin chefs have been forced to close restaurants due to the high rental costs, staffing issues amongst the long list of other causes.
Earlier this month, celebrity chef, Michael Caines, shocked fans after announcing the sale of Mickeys Beach Bar and Restaurant in Exmouth.
In September, a well-known TV chef, Simon Rimmer, closed his only remaining branch after 33 years in business.
By Paul Lochhead - managing director of Drinkstuff
THE recent wave of celebrity chef restaurant closures can indeed be attributed to several factors, with the pandemic being a significant one.
The hospitality industry, particularly high-end restaurants, faced unprecedented challenges during the pandemic. Restrictions on dining, a shift to takeaways, and the need for social distancing significantly reduced footfall and revenue for these establishments.
However, the impact goes beyond the pandemic. High-end restaurants operate on a model that requires substantial overheads—premium locations, top-quality ingredients, and skilled staff.
With the economic uncertainty and a change in consumer behaviour post-pandemic, there’s been a shift in dining preferences. Many diners are now seeking more casual, value-driven experiences, which puts pressure on the viability of luxury dining.
Moreover, for celebrity chefs, these ventures are often passion projects rather than primary revenue sources.
If a restaurant isn’t performing well, it may not be worth the continued investment, especially when compared to the other income streams they have, such as media appearances, books, and endorsements.
SIR JIM RATCLIFFE has sent three Manchester United wonderkids to train with another Ineos club.
The British billionaire acquired a 27.7 per cent stake in the Red Devils last December.
Ratcliffe and his chiefs are now in charge of football operations at Old Trafford.
Ad they have made the decision to send three highly-rated youngsters to Lausanne.
The Ineos group also run the Swiss club.
Habeeb Ogunneye, Jack Kingdon and Ethan Williams travelled there today and will be involved in first-team training sessions.
The rarely-seen move is a “reward” for the 18-year-old trio and will help their development, claim the Manchester Evening News.
Ogunneye has been on the bench for seven Premier League games but is still waiting for his debut.
The right-back has caught the eye for the Under-21s this term.
Kingdon signed his first pro contract in the summer and has previously trained with United‘s first-team.
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The defender is captain of last season’s Under-18s Treble-winning side.
And as for Williams, he scored 17 goals and grabbed nine assists for the young champions and he has also mixed with the senior squad before.
Lausanne were acquired by Ratcliffe in 2017 and they currently sit tenth in the Swiss Super League.
French side Nice are also in his football portfolio.
SunSport's DAVE KIDD says Erik ten Hag's time at Man Utd is up… and explains what's wrong with all the potential candidates to replace him.
THIS is a mid-table squad at an underachieving club, with a lot of unwanted players on big money.
And Ratcliffe is an instinctive cost-cutter who may not pay top dollar to the next manager.
If this club wasn’t called ‘Manchester United’, it wouldn’t be an especially desirable job.
The good news for United is that their new sporting director, Dan Ashworth, is a very decent judge of a manager.
He has been instrumental in three previous managerial appointments — Gareth Southgate for England, Graham Potter for Brighton and Eddie Howe for Newcastle.
None were wildly popular at the time, all were conspicuous successes.
Interestingly, Ashworth’s No 1 choice for the Newcastle job was Unai Emery, who turned him down to stay at Villarreal but has since proved that judgment right by excelling at Aston Villa.
Emery may well deliver the coup de grace to Ten Hag on Sunday — especially with Bruno Fernandes suspended and Kobbie Mainoo an injury doubt.
And the Spaniard would be an excellent fit for United — yet there is next to no chance that he would abandon Villa’s Champions League campaign to take the Old Trafford job, not least because he isn’t a stark raving madman.
Howe would be another good candidate to succeed Ten Hag but, although he has become frustrated on Tyneside, the Saudis would surely not allow Ratcliffe to poach Howe, as they reluctantly did with Ashworth.
Potter is available but his Chelsea experience and lack of charisma would make him a tough sell.
Which brings us to Southgate, who remains close with Ashworth and is an excellent man-manager who was seriously considered by United last spring.
Yet, despite having led England to two of their three major finals, Southgate’s reputation for over-caution was only enhanced during the Euros.
Mauricio Pochettino, passed over twice by United, is out of the equation having taken the United States job.
Thomas Tuchel would be a popular and gettable option but, despite being a fine coach and a very engaging man, he is considered something of a loose cannon.
Likewise, Roberto De Zerbi, now at Marseille after his brief Brighton stint sparkled then fizzled out.
Kieran McKenna — a gifted former United coach who has won back-to-back promotions with Ipswich Town — is an intriguing candidate but the imminent vacancy may come a year or so too soon.
Marco Silva, the extremely under-rated Fulham boss, has been on United’s radar and should not be discounted.
Sporting Lisbon’s Ruben Amorim, last season’s ‘next big thing’, was passed over by West Ham as well as Liverpool this summer and is not an easy man to pin down.
Zinedine Zidane, who has taken over from Alan Curbishley as a 20-1 shot for every Premier League job, is a ‘figurehead’ manager and not an Ashworth type.
Ruud van Nistelrooy, the former United goal machine who joined Ten Hag’s coaching team in the summer is the bookies’ favourite. Simply because he’s in the building and he’s Dutch.
So, yes, getting rid of Ten Hag is the easy part.
LUANA ALONSO has launched her own OnlyFans two months after being banished from the Paris Olympics.
The Paraguayan swimmer, 20, competed at this summer’s Games before being kicked out of the athlete’s village.
Alonso took part in the women’s 100m butterfly in the French capital.
She finished sixth in her heat and 29th overall, failing to qualify for the semi-finals.
Her exit from the Games was then followed by her retirement from competitive swimming.
However, Alonso remained in the village until she was reportedly asked to leave by officials for “creating an inappropriate atmosphere” around the team.
It came after she allegedly snuck out on a trip to Disneyland Paris.
Several months on, Alonso has now announced her next career move.
She has launched her own OnlyFans page, providing fans with exclusive content on the site.
The former swimmer already boasts 1.1million followers on Instagram and her fans can now subscribe to her OnlyFans content for $35-a-month.
On the platform, Alonso’s bio reads: “Your favourite ex-swimmer.
“Promise you won’t regret this. We’re gonna have a lot of fun together (in the messages).”
Alonso previously competed at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 as well as for both the SMU Mustangs and Virginia Tech Hokies during her college career in the USA.
After announcing her retirement following this year’s Olympics, she expressed her desire to complete her university studies.
Addressing her plans beyond swimming, she said: “I made the decision to stop and I am happy that my last race will be at the Olympics.
“I am going to go to study in the United States, I am going to continue my career in Political Science and, why not, be Sports Minister one day.
“I will always have a fondness for swimming and I may attend a competition, but it is not what I want in life.
“What I want is to work for a company, I already have my life plan and hopefully it can happen.”
EMMERDALE star Alexander Lincoln has landed a major movie role co-starring opposite Jonathan Bennett of Mean Girls fame.
Alexander has been spreading his wings and taking on a number of big film projects since leaving the Dales.
Alexander Lincoln is reportedly taking on an exciting Hollywood role alongside Mean Girls alum Jonathan Bennett, who is best known for playing Aaron Samuels in the 2004 cult classic.
He is set to play Jonathan’s love interest in a big Christmas movie from Hallmark.
A source revealed to The Sun: “It’s a huge role for Alex and will open his career up to bigger opportunities in Hollywood.
“It’s a really smart move after doing Emmerdale and a lot of indie movies. It’s going to put his name on the lips of casting directors in America for sure.
“He could become the biggest British soap star in America.”
The title of the movie has not been confirmed, and it is not yet clear when the movie will premiere.
Alexander is best known for playing Jamie Tate in Emmerdale from 2019 to 2021, with his last appearance being in November of that year, with villagers believing the character to be dead after his car crashed into a lake.
But soap fans know Jamie survived and is alive and well away from the village, leaving the door open for a potential return.
However, Alexander has had a number of other acting projects on the go since. He has notably appeared in Dolly Alderton’s BBC series Everything I Know About Love and the Netflix comedy-drama Geek Girl.
Alexander’s biggest Hollywood roles are still to come, though. Not only will he appear in the upcoming Hallmark movie alongside Mean Girls alum Jonathan, he will also star as the lead character Oliver in On A Winter’s Night.
He will share the screen with Harry Potter star David Bradley who played the infamous Hogwarts caretaker Argus Filch and The Great’s Jack Brett Anderson.
The film follows a stone-broke gay actor and a privileged bonehead with a failing business cross paths on a winter night and join forces in a quest around London to find a meaning to their miserable lives.
With Alexander’s career taking off, it seems a return to Emmerdale is not on the cards at the moment, but he hasn’t ruled it out in the future.
He previously told Attitude magazine that talks had taken place.
SOAP viewers are frequently left heartbroken after watching some of their favourite characters bite the dust.
Here is a list of the most devastating deaths that have taken place in soapland over the years.
EASTENDERS
Barry Evans – Evil Janine (Charlie Brooks) lured her trusting fiance to Scotland for a quickie marriage after learning he was dying.
Her plan to inherit Barry’s fortune was thwarted when Barry told her that the doctors had mixed up his medical files.
Furious that she was no longer set for a windfall, she pushed Barry off a cliff after telling him their love was “fake”.
Bradley Branning – Bradley was accused of killing Stacey Slater’s rapist Archie Mitchell (Larry Lamb) after he punched him twice on the night he died.
He was spotted in the Square by a police woman who chased him up a fire escape.
Bradley lost his balance and tragically plunged to his death.
CORONATION STREET
Tina McIntyre – Tina was getting it on with Peter Barlow – despite him being married to Carla Connor.
When she threatened to reveal the truth, Carla’s brother Rob got into a physical altercation with her.
Tina lost her footing and fell off a balcony – then warned Rob she was going to tell the cops he pushed her.
In a panic, Rob brutally clobbered her over the head with a metal pipe.
Molly Dobbs – Molly was one of the victims in Corrie’s 2010 tram crash, alongside Ashley Peacock (Steven Arnold).
Married to Tyrone (Alan Halsall), Molly had been having an affair with Kevin Webster (Michael Le Vell) in the months before her death.
This resulted in the birth of their son, Jack (Kyran Bowes), who was named after Jack Duckworth.
As fate would have it, Kevin’s wife Sally (Sally Dynevor) was by Molly’s side in her final moments.
Sally was stunned as Molly confessed Kevin was Jack’s father, before dying of her injuries.
Vera Duckworth – Having appeared regularly in Corrie since the 1970s, there was no denying Vera Duckworth was an iconic character.
Alongside her husband Jack, the pair formed one of the soap’s most beloved couples.
Viewers were heartbroken when Vera was killed off in 2008, being discovered having passed away peacefully in her chair.
Liz Dawn, who played Vera, made a brief return two years later for Bill Tarmey’s exit as Jack.
Paul Foreman – Fans were heartbroken when Paul Foreman succumbed to his illness after battling motor neurone disease.
Introduced in 2018 as David Platt’s (Jack P. Shepherd) cellmate, he later embarked on a romance – and marriage – with vicar Billy Mayhew.
The MND storyline was announced in 2023 – with the expectation it would result in the character’s death.
EMMERDALE
Sarah Sugden – After the family got into financial problems, Sarah’s son Andy (Kelvin Fletcher) decided to make some quick cash from an insurance company by setting fire to the Sugden barn.
He didn’t realise his mum was inside the building, and she got trapped in the blaze.
Nine villagers – The shocking 1993 plane crash episode brought in 18 million viewers for Emmerdale.
Mark Hughes was killed by a falling wall, Archie Brooks was burned by jet fuel, Elizabeth Pollard was killed by debris and newcomer Leonard Kempinski died in a car crash caused by the crash.
Five other non-recurring characters from the village also died.
HOLLYOAKS
Carmel McQueen – The talented singer died in shocking scenes when a train crashed into a her family’s car.
Carmel managed to free her cousin Theresa from the rubble – but got stuck in it herself.
Moments later the train exploded and Carmel died in the arms of her family members, promising to be their guardian angel.
“I loved the show. I lived in Leeds for two-and-a-half-years. I miss everyone from the show deeply. No one knew who I was before it — I’d done some very tiny things. It was my initiation into the acting world,” he said.
Alexander continued: “I can never thank them enough for that experience. But I don’t know, to be honest. There have been talks. But for now, I really want to focus on this year: I want to produce, start my own scripts.
“There are other parts I want to play. There are time constraints. Being on the show, it’s such hard work — you don’t have time to do anything else. Booking a holiday is hard enough.”
THE body of a woman has been found on a Welsh beach near a holiday park by a shocked passerby.
The discovery was made at Pensarn, Abergele, Wales, just before 8am yesterday.
It followed the presence of the emergency services in the area near Whiteshouse Leisure Park.
The death of the 58-year-old woman is not being treated as suspicious by the police.
The local coroner has been informed.
A spokesperson for the force said: “We can confirm that we received a report the discovery of a woman’s body shortly before 8am yesterday morning on the beach near Pensarn.
“The 58-year-old woman’s next of kin have been contacted and are being supported by officers.
“The coroner has been informed and the death is not being treated as suspicious.”
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VIEWERS were left shocked after dashcam footage of a lorry crushing a driver’s bonnet at a junction was uploaded to TikTok.
The careless driver appears to turn into a road at a bad angle and wipes out two cars with their trailer in the process.
The incident, which apparently happened in Avonmouth, Bristol, shows the dashcam view of a car being wiped out by a lorry turning into a road.
The footage begins with the driver pulling up behind a red BMW hatchback that’s stopped and is ready to turn left at a junction.
However, as the BMW indicates, a lorry turning into the road appears to take the bend at a bad angle and at too much speed.
In doing so, its trailer smashes into the small BMW as it swings around – even causing it to smash back into the car behind it that’s recording.
As both cars sound their horns, the driver recording the dashcam footage can be heard saying: “I don’t believe that.”
Thankfully, everyone in each vehicle appears to be completely unharmed, with the female driver of the BMW promptly getting out of her car to inspect the damage and approach the lorry’s driver.
There is no information on what happened after the incident, although many viewers on social media believe the lorry, which is seemingly owned by trucking company Webb Distribution, was at fault.
One viewer commented: “Surely that lorry was going far too fast round that corner knowing it needed more space?”
Another said: “The red car is in the right place at the double lines – the lorry hasn’t given itself enough space to turn.”
However, not everyone is completely convinced the incident is so cut and dry.
For instance, someone else commented: “Be interesting to know how the insurance worked that out, for the camera car was liable.”
However, someone else replied to this comment: “I don’t know in what world you’d think the car could be liable.”
Interestingly, someone else pointed out that the cars on the road could’ve been more helpful to the lorry pulling into the road.
One wrote: “Was the whole lane of traffic supposed to reverse?”
And another commented: “A HGV’s blind spot is never a place you want to find yourself.”
This comes just days after new rules for HGV drivers were announced.
From October 28, HGV drivers in London will need to follow a range of new safety laws to avoid big fines.
HGVs will now be given a Direct Vision Standard score based on how well the driver can see from their cab without mirrors or cameras.
The DVS measures the exact volume of space an HGV driver can see directly through their cab windscreen.
All HGVs in London will be given a DVS star rating between zero and five.
A rating of zero means drivers can see very little through their cab windows.
Last month, we revealed shocking footage of the moment a lorry driver ploughed into a car, narrowly missing a family as he searched for a podcast on his phone.
