SUE SKINNER Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay is set to unleash his straight-talking expertise on an award-winning Norfolk restaurant which is struggling to get enough customers through the doors.

SUE SKINNER

He is as famous for his explosive personality and colourful language as his culinary talents.

Now celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay is set to unleash his straight-talking expertise on an award-winning Norfolk restaurant which is struggling to get enough customers through the doors.

Rococo at King's Lynn will feature in a new series of the Channel 4 reality show, Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares, which follows the controversial chef as he dishes out advice to eateries in crisis around Britain.

Ramsay's efforts to turn each one around and his expletive-strewn outbursts have made the programme a must-see for millions of viewers.

But it also demonstrates the harsh realities of trying to run a successful restaurant - and how even the most disastrous situation can be resolved with a bit of imagination and a lot of hard work.

Nick Anderson, owner and head chef at Rococo, is understood to have approached Mr Ramsay in an 11th- hour attempt to save his livelihood.

He opened the eaterie in the Saturday Market Place in 1991 and won a string of awards, with a much-coveted Michelin star providing the icing on the cake in 2001.

The restaurant then closed and reopened in a new venue at the Crown Hotel, Wells, but the move did not work out and the business subsequently returned to its old premises three years later.

Despite receiving a warm welcome back from regulars - and even the magistrates who granted the licence - it is not attracting enough custom.

Mr Ramsay is expected to visit the restaurant later in the summer

and spend several days in the Lynn area.

He will then return at a later date to see if Mr Anderson has taken his advice on board - and if the fortunes of Rococo have revived.

The programme is due to be shown towards the end of the year.