Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Ramsgate Restaurant Robbed

News just in! A substantial amount of cash was taken from a till at top Ramsgate restaurant Age & Sons yesterday - while the mayor and other civic dignitaries were handing over a cheque for the 2010 Ramsgate Arts Festival. The rotter or rotters took advantage of the ceremony in the upstairs restaurant to empty the till in the downstairs café.

It's not the first time thieves have struck at Age & Sons, which is on course to become the island's first Michelin star restaurant. Lovely co-owner Harriet tells me several tables and chairs have also legged it recently from outside the eatery. She adds: 'I went outside on one occasion and saw an elderly woman sitting at one of our tables. She wasn't a customer, so I assumed she was just having a rest. She was at least 70. Next thing I knew, she was scuttling off with a couple of our chairs.' Needless to say the dauntless Harriet dashed after the wizened old crone and, er, repossessed her property.

It makes you wonder whether the local pit bull tuggers really deserve to have their town improved by the influx of incomers who have fallen in love with the place, and are putting their hard-earned cash to work at making it all lovely. And, of course, most times Kent's finest are about as much use as tits on a bull when it comes to tracking down the offenders.

Still, word has it that the excellent Eddie Gilberts fishmongers on King Street are about to open a restaurant upstairs. EG, whose vehicles carry the hilarious warning: 'No scallops kept in van overnight', will be offering the finest fish and chips, along with more adventurous stuff like mussels and crabs. Yum!

Update: The police now have a man in custody and will hopefully be feeding him to his own dogs in the very near future.

Rave review in the Independent on Sunday: This Sunday's IoS (17 May) gave Age & Sons 17 out 20. Hurrah! The paper said: 'With the help of local fishmonger Eddie Gilbert's, (Toby) Leigh is putting on some of the best fish I have seen in years. A moist, fleshy tranche of wild turbot (£15), gently braised on the bone with brown shrimps, lemon and white wine – like potted shrimps as a sauce – is as thrilling as British fish gets.' Another triumph for Ramsgate! Click here to read full review.

Age & Sons
Ramsgate Arts Festival

19 comments:

K. Marx said...

What we need is a good influx of bourgeoisie, petit bourgeoisie, retain the proletariat but not allow them to gain ideas above their station and kick out the Lumpenproletariat, i.e. scroates and scumbags.

Anonymous said...

Poor old Bernie Bubbles used to get his till nicked on a regular basis, when he owned the place. He'd come down the Belgian Bar in the evening and have a good laugh about it.
I think he realised that his place was in a prime spot for 'opportunists' to disappear with his till quite easily.
He certainly never tried to break our hearts over his own security failings!

Anonymous said...

Saw Bernie the other day whizzing around on his buggy!

Anonymous said...

Why do you assume that the wizened old crone is a local ?

I heard she used to work for Private Eye and retired to Thanet to be close to an esteemed former colleague.

Anonymous said...

She was a bailiff. Cunning slag. Distraining goods for an arms length sale. Not a care whose goods. Typical.

Anonymous said...

If there was a civic group in upstairs it could be TDC giving with one hand and taking with another? .

Does Sandy's tag have sat nav ? if it does we should be able to get him within a couple of paces of the cash box.

Fiona S said...

I can sympathise :-)

Eddie said...

Business owner fails to protect their cash adequately - hardly an excuse to get all daily mail on the locals is it ECR?

Lucy Mail said...

Good news indeed about Eddie Gilbert's restaurant. The fella that owns the place, Jonny, is an absolute honey! It's truly a wet fish shop, in every sense of the word!
Though much as I like the idea about popping in for a portion of his mussels, I'm not too sure about the crabs.

Richard Eastcliff said...

Fair point, Jean. And I'm happy to clarify that not everyone who tugs a pit bull round here, or indeed every granny, is a thief. There are plenty of, er, 'gentlemen' thieves around too, many of whom live in Boredstares and Kingsgate I'm told!

Hopefully the rozzers will be able to identify the A&S robber from the magnificently clear CCTV piccies he provided of himself.

As for Jonny, Lucy, I gather he's a happily divorced man so feel free to fill your not insubstantial boots!

Anonymous said...

I got robbed there to, £115 pounds even the Albany london offer's a better lunch deal!! i things the bloke ran in the shi..t and shovel next door. I am saving up to see if me friends can chip in for an oyster in the lancashire hotpot £15 quid neck of lamb thank god daddy's money is bank rolling this joke run it as a tax loss no loss to jo public laughable

Anonymous said...

How did none of the 5 chefs spot anyone surely 1 chef to every 1customer must of put the scarlet pimpernel on tenderhooks knowing that half of ramsgates blue rinse bregade eat their with soft pureed food and foams should of eased his mind in his exit strategy. Big issue loves us come on!!! take a porn mag to bed not a little red book do you cash giros there

Anonymous said...

That old lady The gorgeous Harriet waddled after, do you not think she was just one of the many who mistake the chrome chairs for their NHS Zimmer frames just a thought.

Anonymous said...

Dignitaries, No Commodores the only people to recieve medals with out seeing any service from our finest royal yacht club, Surely they could of got see views from the top restaurant to look at their silted up boats with some cheap Prosecca. It must feel great to be surrounded by humble people. Ramsgate elite i am sure they appeared on the Apprentice

Anonymous said...

Dear Anonymous # 6
Care to have a thought about the punctuation in your sentences? I have no idea what this missive is intended to read:

"I got robbed there to, £115 pounds even the Albany london offer's a better lunch deal!! i things the bloke ran in the shi..t and shovel next door. I am saving up to see if me friends can chip in for an oyster in the lancashire hotpot £15 quid neck of lamb thank god daddy's money is bank rolling this joke run it as a tax loss no loss to jo public laughable"

£115 pounds for what? I presume it wasn't English language lessons.

Anonymous said...

Proof yet again from the sarky comments above that nothing good will ever succeed in Thanet.

Your average Thanetian is content to munch on crap Thorley pies and lardy chips while their dodgy councillors and council officials large it up with their mates Frank, Ken and co and dream up even more crap about 'jobs' and 'regeneration'.

Ooh, someone put garlic in my lunch. Dirty bastards.

Anonymous said...

Thanetians are the worse tippers. Most think a quid is generous on a fifty quid bill and expect to be able to pat you on the arse into the bargain.

Tight, uncouth, sexist, racist, unfunny load of c*nts.

Lucy Mail said...

But those are most of the Thanetian qualities that make me laugh the loudest!
They're only unfunny if you don't have a sense of humour, I think.
And why are you relying on tips? You're not living in America.
I feel the amount you're being tipped, may reflect the level of service that you're giving people!

You're not German, are you?

Anonymous said...

You try living on the minimum wage.

And it's not just me they don't tip, it's everyone I work with. We all give excellent service, it's just the tight-arses round here are too mean and too ill-educated to part with their Deutschemarks. Taking the piss out of the waiting staff or feeling them up seems to be alright though.

Yes, it would be funny if it wasn't criminal. Now, it was a busy night, so I'm off to watch a bit of telly in the leibens raum.