Riots in Notting Hill

Mike just sent me this article... a bit too close to home... this place is roughly a mile or less from our flat. 

My colleague Haroon Siddique sends this amazing story about a hold-up at a Michelin-starred restaurant. He writes:

Staff at the Michelin-starred restaurant the Ledbury, in Notting Hill, north-west London, leapt to the defence of diners when it was targeted by a gang last night.

One of those eating at the restaurant when it came under attack was Louise Yang, who blogs under the name Naked Sushi and posted an account of the heroic intervention by staff.

A restaurant spokesman said the Ledbury would be releasing a statement shortly but confirmed the basic details of the incident. Yang wrote:

Around the fourth dish of the tasting course, there were loud bangs outside. The restaurant staff [were] yelling at us to get away from the windows. Before I knew it, the front door, a solid piece of glass, shattered and people came crashing in with hoodies, masks, and random weapons.

The looters were yelling at us to get down and throwing stuff all over the place. I got down and started taking off my wedding and engagement ring to hide somewhere, but unfortunately wasn't fast enough. One looter came up and demanded my phone. I didn't have it with me since it was in my purse and it was out of arm reach. I also didn't want to lead him to my passport, so I said I didn't have one.

He told me to take off my rings and grabbed my hand, trying to yank them off. His friend tried to help too, but the rings wouldn't come off and I just yelled at him that I'd take them off myself. In hindsight, now that I know that gun control is so fierce in England and he only had a bat, I should have held on to my rings better and maybe slugged him in the face.

The kitchen staff at the Ledbury went beyond their call of duty by rushing up from the kitchen with rolling pins, fry baskets, and other dangerous kitchen tools and scared off the looters. Then they provided well-needed glasses of alcohol including champagne and whisky.

Yang said that word then came that the looters were coming back a second time at which point the staff ushered the diners into the bathrooms and told them to lock the doors. A few minutes later, they led them into the wine cellar and told us to lock ourselves in there. She concluded:

Guy who took my ring, I hope you put it to good use and don't just dump it in the street. Also, I hope you get a case of flaming diarrhoea for the rest of your life. Ledbury staff, thanks for keeping things under control and giving me some petit fours to munch on.