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A TV chef who was Gordon Ramsay’s best man left his wife for a woman almost 25 years his junior, MailOnline has learned.
Stephen Terry, 56, announced the closure of his exclusive restaurant, The Hardwick, in Abergavenny earlier this week.
Shocked residents of the market town assumed its brutal failure was down to a pair of fraudsters who stole almost £200,000 from the company to fund a luxury lifestyle.
But insiders say the lovelorn chef has been “distracted” from the business in recent months after falling for a wine salesman.
His new lover Jo Browning, 32, has an eight-year-old daughter from a previous marriage. Friends of Mr Terry’s 54-year-old wife, also called Jo, say they are “devastated” by the split.
TV chef Stephen Terry (left), who was best man for Gordon Ramsay (right), left his wife for a woman almost 25 years his junior
Friends of Terry’s wife Jo (left) say she is ‘devastated’ by split
His new lover Jo Browning, 32, has an eight-year-old daughter from a previous marriage.
Her father, Derry Nicklin, 83, was a major investor in her husband’s restaurant when he started it 18 years ago.
Mr Terry, who represented Wales on the BBC’s Great British Menu, announced the closure of the Hardwick a few days ago, but made no mention of the marital difficulties which might be behind it. of this sudden closure.
A friend of the couple said: “His wife and family are absolutely devastated by Stephen’s behavior.
“He had an affair behind Jo’s back and she is heartbroken.
“It has been a terrible time for her and their children.”
The friend said Mr Terry was now living with Ms Browning, who works for local wine supplier Chesters.
The friend added: “So many lives have been turned upside down. They were married for almost 20 years and Jo’s father invested the money to start The Hardwick.
Meanwhile, Mr Terry said “everything is gold” with his new lover Jo. He said the couple fell in love earlier this year and were now planning a life together.
Although they live in a modest rented house in Abergavenny, he said they hope to open a wine bar with meals “in the very near future”, perhaps in Bristol or Bath.
The chef said he felt “desperately sorry” for the heartache his new relationship had caused his wife and their three children.
He added: “I feel their pain. This was a shock to them and they are very upset.
Mr Terry said: ‘I met someone – Jo, or Franks as I call her – and she turned my head’
Ms Browning is almost 25 years younger than her new partner and has the same first name as his wife.
Mr Terry said “everything is gold” with his new lover. Pictured: Mr. Terry and his wife
“I love my wife, but after 20 years I think we have grown apart. It happens.
“I’ve worked hard in a kitchen all my life and this is the first time this has happened. I have always been very conscientious, committed to my work and my career. I invested so much in my work and my career that it was all I did.
“Then I met someone – Jo or Franks as I call her – and she turned my head.
‘We are good. Everything is golden. I didn’t anticipate the pain and upset this would cause. I feel bad for that. My wife never saw this coming – neither did I. This has been difficult for our friends and family and I am desperately sorry.
He said he was “extremely proud” of the way his three children had handled the breakdown of the marriage. Their two daughters recently started college, he said.
“They’re settling in and I’m so proud of them. Our son, who is 14, is also doing well, but naturally finds it more difficult.’
He said the case did not trigger the Hardwick’s closure.
“I’ll tell you what caused this: Brexit, Covid-19 and the cost of living crisis.”
“Outside London, and especially in a relatively small town like Abergavenny, very few people can afford to eat out these days because they have little spare cash. People just don’t go out anymore, and in the hospitality industry, margins are incredibly tight. We just couldn’t survive.
“As for Brexit, it ruined the activity because of staff recruitment problems. Things got so bad that in the end I had to make my sous chef my head chef and do his job in the kitchen as well as mine.
The house where chef Stephen Terry and Jo Browning live in Abergavenny, Wales
Mr Terry said he did not discuss his split or new love with his superstar chef friend Gordon Ramsay, for whom he was best man.
“And then of course £150,000 was taken from us in the space of two years – it was a kick in the bullshit that I never saw coming.”
Mr Terry said he did not discuss his break-up or new love with his superstar chef friend Gordon Ramsay, for whom he was best man.
“We’re great friends and we’ve had a lot of fantastic experiences together, but our lives are so different,” he said.
“Gordon is the most famous chef in the world, so he is extremely busy. I saw him last year for the first time in maybe ten years and we had a great time.
Earlier this year it emerged that restaurant financial administrator and mother-of-five Nicola Nightingale, 48, stole £150,000 from the restaurant while transferring a further £46,000 to her husband Simon’s bank account, 50 years.
The couple used the stolen money to go on luxury vacations to Disneyland in Paris, Disneyworld in Florida and anniversary trips to Morocco.
Mr. Terry posted a photo announcing the closing saying: “The last supper of the last breakfast of the “family”. Thank you to all our staff and customers over the past 18 years. It was moving. Onwards and upwards.
Mr Terry trained under Marco Pierre White at Harveys and became best friends with Gordon Ramsay when they worked together.
The Hardwick has won several awards, including a Bib Gourmand in the Michelin Guide, being named the best restaurant in Wales for consecutive years and named 19th best gastropub in the coveted Estrella Damm list of the 50 best gastropubs in 2020.
Stephen Terry, who left his wife for another woman, is pictured with James Martin
The house where Mr Terry and Jo Browning live together in Abergavenny
Stephen ran the restaurant with his wife after his family helped finance the purchase. They added luxurious rooms to the restaurant, but he always avoided seeking a Michelin star because he didn’t want to appear “fancy and expensive.” He beat Angela Hartnett at the Great British Menu in 2008.
Cardiff Crown Court heard Mr Terry trusted Nightingale to manage the finances before implicating her husband in his fraud.
The alarm was raised when suspicious Mr Terry noticed money was missing and discovered two £40,000 loans had been taken out in his name, as well as a £10,000 shortfall in the fund of retirement.
Prosecutor Tom Roberts said Nightingale “generated false invoices from fictitious suppliers” after being employed at the country inn.
The court heard she started working at the restaurant in February 2018 before she began paying herself inflated wages and creating false invoices.
Mr Roberts said: “She made it look like the business was doing well, but she had actually put it into significant debt.”
The total money stolen from the restaurant was £150,234.63 between February 2018 and February 2020.
Nightingale, of Deal, Kent, pleaded guilty to fraud by abuse of position. Her husband was convicted of acquiring criminal property following a trial.
The couple were given a two-year suspended sentence at Cardiff Crown Court in May this year.
A proceeds of crime hearing has now heard that a “thorough” review of their finances revealed no releaseable assets.
Judge Shomon Khan made confiscation orders worth £1 against Mr and Mrs Nightingale.
He said: “There was a lot of interest in her case but there was a thorough investigation and that’s where we are in terms of the recoverable amount and that’s as far as the courts can go.”
After their conviction, Mr Terry said it was an “absolute joke” that the pair had been released after defrauding his restaurant.
He said: “I’m disappointed there was no prison sentence for what they did to me. For someone to come and do that, I think she pretty much got away with it.
“They had a vacation we could only dream of and all of a sudden you find out you’re paying for it. That they end up with a suspended sentence is a travesty.
“What kind of message does this send?” It’s a joke, an absolute joke.
A source close to Mr Terry said the amount of money the company lost when it was defrauded by the Nightingales was partly to blame for The Hardwick’s demise.
But diners who bought £100 vouchers to dine there in recent days, or booked rooms, today began bombarding the restaurant and demanding to know if they would be refunded.
The source said: “It’s been a tough time to run a restaurant and there are a lot of issues affecting the business, but without losing so much money it could have gotten through it. »
The Hardwick said it would “call for future reservations as soon as possible.”
Jo Terry told MailOnline: ‘I don’t want to comment, my priority is the children and I just want to protect them at this difficult time.’
TV Chef, Best Man to Gordon Ramsay, Ends Marriage for Woman Almost 25 Years Younger