Former Adlards chef knocks back Rooney

A chef who won his first Michelin star at a Norwich restaurant is now knocking back Wayne Rooney's request for a table at his new restaurant.

A chef who won his first Michelin star at a Norwich restaurant is now knocking back Wayne Rooney's request for a table at his new restaurant.

Aiden Byrne's new restaurant has a six-week wait for tables, forcing him knock back a request for a table from the England and Manchester United star.

Mr Byrne was just 22 when he won his first Michelin star while head chef at Adlard's in Upper St Giles Street, Norwich.

Now 36, he last year quit his �100,000 job as head chef at The Dorchester to take over the Church Green boozer in the Cheshire village of Lymm.

He told the Sun: 'On the first day here, November 3, we took �140.

'And I just thought, 'What have I done? What have I done?'

'But after that shaky start, we've been going from strength to strength.

'Now we're doing �30,000 a week. Everybody keeps telling me about this recession, but in the summer we'll do even more than that so I am not a victim of the credit crunch.

'Last year I wrote my own book, Made In Great Britain. It got a mention on a TV programme about the 'rise of the superchef' and from that day onwards, we've been full every week.'

He added: 'Now I've got Wayne Rooney's agent Paul Stretford as a regular and when he wanted to fix up a table for the England star and his wife Coleen - sadly, I had to turn them away.

'Sorry, Wayne, people are now booking tables six weeks in advance and that's fantastic.'