TV chef is hit by credit crunch

The winner of a TV cookery contest has shut his Tyneside restaurant, blaming tough economic conditions, according to his daughter.

Terry Miller won ITV's Hell's Kitchen in 2005 and opened his restaurant Rockafella in Newcastle with some of the £250,000 prize money.

The venue was popular with celebrities like Alan Shearer and Denise Welch.

Mr Miller's daughter Julie Hardy said the family would now concentrate on an existing catering business.

Ms Hardy said Mr Miller, 50, and and her mother, Linda, had been saddened by the decline of the business and had taken the action before the restaurant went bust.

She said: "Their heart has been in the industry for 25 years.

"It is such a shame that it has come to an end, but these are hard times for the restaurant industry.

"This is a family business and my brother, Graeme, who was restaurant manager, has had his job axed too."

Mr Miller was a popular winner of the show after impressing his mentor, Gary Rhodes, with his signature Rockafella dish - a union of king prawns and instant mashed potato.

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