Gordon Ramsay to ban swearing in all his restaurants

His name has long been synonymous with abuse, asterisks and four-letter words, but Gordon Ramsay has had a dramatic change of heart on swearing. In a move that will have diners choking on their oven-roasted Bresse pigeon, he plans to ban foul language in all his restaurants, whether in the kitchens or the dining areas.

All over his considerable gastronomic empire, from his flagship eaterie in Chelsea to his controversial Gordon Ramsay New York, to his newest venture in Paris, opened to huge fanfares last week, and his Plane Food place in the bedevilled Terminal Five, the ban will come into operation on 1 May.

Assistant chefs and waiters will face disciplinary one-on-one "exercise" sessions with Ramsay, and diners will be fined £5 (or $11 or €7), for any outbreak of effing, blinding or c-word in public. Four years ago, Ramsay installed closed-circuit TV in all his UK restaurants to improve waiter service, and it has even been suggested that he has had sensitive microphones installed in his tables, to pick up sotto voce cursing. The reason for this dramatic turnaround is not hard to find. It follows the crushing news that Ramsay's application to open a new establishment in Sydney – his first in Australia – has been turned down by the city authorities, on grounds of "decency".



"We are not prudes, God knows," said Senator Drew Stockman, 61, "and we have no problem with vigorous language, where appropriate. But we feel that allowing this sweary fellow to bring his bilious obscenities to Sydney's Harbourfront is a step in the wrong direction. Australia is changing. The old stereotypes have been supplanted by a new sophistication and dignity. And frankly, Gordon Ramsay has no part of it. The only Ramsay we want around here is the street in Neighbours."

Ramsay, understandably, did not take the news with stoic resignation. "He was hopping mad for an hour or so," said a spokesman. "He called the Senate and the federal government ... certain names. He pointed out, quite rightly, that the whole thrust of Australia's new tourism initiative is based on swearing, what with that 'Where the bloody hell are you?' routine.

"But I think Gordon has been forced to take stock of his reputation for verbal violence. Is it right that he should be associated in the public mind with rude words as much as with sublime cooking? All that's going to change. There's a new, mature, more approachable Gordon Ramsay inside him that the world hasn't yet seen, and it's one that won't go around turning the air blue all the time."