Restaurant owner blames crisis on public's poor taste

David Ramsden, whose customers have included the actors Nicole Kidman, Tim Roth and Sean Penn, will close his restaurant, Rogue, within days unless he is given a stay of execution by creditors.

He faces a series of bills - including VAT demands in excess of 17,000 - and has made temporary arrangements to pay staff in cash up until the start of next week.

"I am absolutely desperate," he said. "This is my last chance. Either people come in very soon and explore what we offer and the food we serve, or it’s over."

Mr Ramsden, who opened the restaurant in Morrison Street at the heart of the capital’s new financial district three years ago, is meeting bankers today to discuss the future of the venture.

His business, which seats 110 and sells wines ranging from 14 to 450 a bottle, needs to turn over between 15,000 and 18,000 a week to break even.

Mr Ramsden, who closed his Michelin-rated Leith restaurant (fitz) Henry in April 2001, yesterday blamed diners for failing to support top-end restaurants.

But some experts say they are tired of hearing his pleas to customers - and that Rogue, near the Scottish Widows headquarters and the Edinburgh International Conference Centre, is simply in a bad location.

Gillian Glover, The Scotsman’s restaurant critic, said: "David is a fantastic restaurateur but he berates the people of Edinburgh like a junior Lear raging against the elements.

"Rogue is just in a really bad place, at the bottom of an insurance building. Who wants to go to an office block for a relaxing weekend dinner?"

Mr Ramsden slashed prices by up to 50 per cent earlier this year to attract more customers. Main courses now cost between 6 and 11, and all starters are under 5. He said: "The number of customers has gone up but the amount they are paying has gone down. It saddens me to say it, but people in Edinburgh are happy to embrace mediocrity and are scared of genuine excellence. They are slow to support the very best restaurants."

And he confessed: "Some people find me a bit much, I know that. But I am the way I am because I care deeply about the restaurant and about getting it right. I wish Edinburgh people had the same passion."

Malcolm Duck, chair of the Edinburgh Restaurateurs’ Association and owner of Duck’s at Le March Noir in Eyre Place, said: "It would be incredibly sad to see Rogue close. The fact is that it is very hard to run an independent restaurant in Edinburgh these days because as well as all the national tax burdens you have a council charging extortionate business rates. Landlords are hardly benevolent, either. City centre venues such as Le Sept have found themselves faced with huge rent bills."