Has Rankin got the Quay to Marco?s Castle?

This rumour has been going around for a period now & we haven’t really paid much attention to it, but today it gathered pace as the same rumour persisted with greater detail.

It centres around the Channel Island of Jersey, and in particular the waterfront development of Castle Quay in St. Helier. The very polished brochure from property company Dandara even dedicates a page to former 3star chef Marco Pierre White where he waxes lyrical about the island’s produce,

….to work with some of the island’s precious gifts; Jersey royals, Jersey cream and locally caught Jersey seafood, all culinary treasures which I have used in my kitchens for many years whilst marvelling at the wonder of their origin.

Even up to two weeks ago Mr White was at a property fair in St. Helier reinforcing that he would be

….Involved….

with the development according to a representative from Dandara HQ. Maybe he was interested in purchasing one or two of the properties within the development? We’ve found some on the market ranging from £580,000 to £995,000 for a two bed apartment, doesn’t matter how you look at it, that’s an awful lot of stock cubes.

Unfortunately this flies in the face of what has allegedly happened. The rumour mill persists that Mr White has allegedly pulled out of putting one of his ‘Frankies’ restaurants (which he set up with Champion jockey Frankie Dettori) into the waterfront development, which is due for completion in 2011.

So there’s a space for a restaurant in a very affluent neighbourhood going spare. Not so quick there reader, as this is where the second part of this rumour starts to gather pace.

An even more regular rumour coming out of Jersey is that 4Rosette 1Michelin star chef Shaun Rankin is getting ready to leave Bohemia, and allegedly go it alone. Bohemia is housed in the chic and stylish Club Hotel & Spa, but from what we’ve heard all’s not well. The Club Hotel & Spa is run by Huggler Hotels and has apparently been Mr Huggler’s focus, concerning the financial returns the property should be making.

With this kind of uncertainty hanging over him, who can blame Mr Rankin for wanting to spread his wings, maybe to Castle Quay?

We’ve tried several times to get in touch with the property company concerned in this post, but they were either unwilling or unable to connect us with their PR lady Christine Holmes.