Jamie Oliver has shocked his fans by posting an Instagram story of his aunt and uncle’s Southend café which has been severely damaged by flooding.
The Instagram story, posted by Oliver on his account yesterday, shows the small café, named Oliver’s on the Beach, completely surrounded by water and around 10 metres out at sea. It also included the caption: “I gotta hand it to my Uncle Colin and my Untie [sic] Mary, they have always been grafters but this is true commitment to their customers! Still the best breakfast in Southend. Love you guys, Jamie.” The café, opened in 2015 by Colin Oliver and Marianne Leggett, serves both breakfast and lunches but we can safely assume that this won’t be the case at least for the next few days.
The flooding is likely a result of Storm Ciara, which caused havoc over the weekend and has led to flooding in multiple parts of the UK.
Despite the rather dramatic flooding of his aunt and uncle’s restaurant, not all is bad for Oliver at the moment after the still relatively recent collapse of his UK restaurant empire. He recently revealed that he and his wife of 20 years Jools will be renewing their marriage vows later this year.
Family have clearly always been a big part of The Naked Chef author’s life and have been particularly important recently after a turbulent year for Oliver. In the past few weeks he has spoken of how his family were ‘the best antidote in the world’ after 24 of his UK restaurants went into administration.
Before Christmas, Oliver also revealed how he managed to lose two stone by making a simple change to his diet. This comes after multiple chefs have opened up recently about their weight loss including fellow TV chef Tom Kerridge.
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