No Kitchen Nightmares in Ramsay’s first pub

Gordon Ramsay’s first pub, The Narrow in London’s Limehouse (44 Narrow Street, London E14 8DP) is located in a Grade II-listed building on the banks of the Thames. The Narrow serves classic British dishes in a unique and relaxed environment. Before opening for business, the restaurant which was formerly a Spirit pub was completely modernised, with particular emphasis being placed on the kitchen environment. As part of the work programme, health and safety issues were naturally scrutinised as pub and restaurant kitchens pose unique fire risks, gathering large numbers of customers at one time while engaging in cooking activities that inherently pose the risk of fire. The fire suppression system already in place was the Nobel K-Series, one of the UK’s premier wet chemical fire suppression systems supplied by Nobel Fire Systems Ltd. This was removed while the rest of the modernisation programme began to take place. However, once the general work had been completed, the decision was taken to reinstall the Nobel K-Series because it was felt that it was still ‘best in class’ in terms of providing full protection to all cooking appliances, extract canopy and duct work. Not only that, the K-Series met the aesthetic qualities of the newly refurbished kitchen meeting the demanding appearance, functionality and hygiene criteria set out by the refurbishment team.