Celebrity chef Richard Corrigan does not expect his London restaurants to be operational again before September.

The Co Meath native shut the doors on his Bentley’s Oyster Bar and Grill, Corrigan’s Mayfair and Daffodil Mulligans sites in London last Friday in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

The operation employs 140 and yesterday Mr Corrigan said: “I am thinking it is a four-month closure – minimum. I can’t see myself up and running before mid-August getting ready for September. We are in for a very, very rough year – a horrific year.”

Mr Corrigan’s Virginia Park Lodge venture in Co Cavan is also closed and he said: “I wouldn’t mind being in Virginia right now walking in the woods rather than being locked in a house in London.”

He said that the company is to pay staff until the end of March and then the situation will be reviewed.

Mr Corrigan added: “There is no question: we will come out of this. We have very little debt. We have a very strong company.”