Gino D’Acampo has been unable to pay £5million to his former staff and in tax after liquidating his pasta chain.

The celebrity chef, 47, has wound up his business this week two years after it first went into liquiation.

Previous accounts said that 49 creditors were not paid. £4.8million is owed to trade creditors, £113,975 to HMRC and £53,304 to staff, the Mirror reports.

In a final account to creditors and members, the company said: ‘Overall, I can confirm that the realisations in the liquidation are insufficient to declare a dividend to the unsecured creditors after defraying the expenses of the proceedings.’

It comes two years after Gino’s My Pasta Bar chain, which opened in 2012, went under when it lost hundreds of thousands year on year until it reached breaking point.

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Gino D’Acampo, 47, has wound up his business this week two years after it first went into liquiation

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It comes two years after Gino’s My Pasta Bar chain, which opened in 2012, went under when it lost hundreds of thousands year on year until it reached breaking point

At the time, it was reported that the This Morning favourite’s chain owed HMRC £113,000 and another £37,000 in staff wages after the three London restaurants on Fleet Street, Leadenhall Market and Bishopsgate were forced to close.

How Gino’s My Pasta Bar lost hundreds of thousands every year

The celebrity chef’s chain owes £4,939,332 to 49 creditors, in addition to £113,975 to HMRC and £37,887 in staff wages, according to paperwork lodged with Companies House.

Accounts from the parent company show it has £1.65m in investments, which includes £821,494 in property.

The documents show the Pasta Bar Specialists Ltd had shareholder funds of -£139,992 in 2013, which rose to more than £5 million by 2020.

2013: -£139,992

2014: -£147,090

2015: -£1,688,799

2016: -£2,398,951

2017: -£3,179,965

2018: -£3,705,575

2019: -£4,370,932

2020: -£5,053,225

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Last year liquidators probed the firm over alleged missing company books and the conduct of its major stakeholders after the chain of Italian restaurants went bust with £5million in debts.

The £150,000 investigation was launched into why IRG (Old) WWR – formerly Gino D’Acampo Worldwide Restaurants Ltd – ended up owing millions after being declared solvent the year before.

Liquidators probed why the debt was not included in the original paperwork, the previous sale of the business, the whereabouts of company books and records, the conduct of major stakeholders and any other relevant issues.

The major stakeholders included Gino, who owns ten per cent, and IRG – who had an 85 per cent stake in the company. The other five per cent belonged to Mr Vernon Lord.

IRG is owned by Iceland founder Malcolm Walker and CEO Tarsem Dhaliwal. Gino has previously had a food range with the supermarket giant.

Inspiration for the restaurant chain was taken from ‘Gino’s own experience of the fresh food markets of Naples’, while it also contained his ‘own breakfast rotolini pastries, authentic antipasti, salads, pastries, speciality breads and Italian desserts’.

His separate restaurant chain, named Gino D’Acampo My Restaurants with venues in Birmingham, Manchester, Harrogate, Leeds, Liverpool and Hull, was unaffected.

But it did have to be rescued with a £12.9 million bailout by co-investors including Iceland bosses Mr Walker and Mr Dhaliwal.

Gino, who previously urged people to stop blaming Covid for business failings, claimed the pandemic was the reason for My Pasta Bar’s closure, saying: ‘We tried it for ten years and then Covid came around and I thought, ‘You know what? We have to close.’

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Previous accounts said that 49 creditors were not paid. £4.8million is owed to trade creditors, £113,975 to HMRC and £53,304 to staff, the Mirror reports

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View gallery

Last year liquidators probed the firm over alleged missing company books and the conduct of its major stakeholders after the chain of Italian restaurants went bust with £5million in debts

The chef grew up in Naples, before moving to the UK and opened his first restaurant age 21.

He told The Daily Mail in 2022 that it is important to bank memories, not money, in relation to his work-life balance.

Gino said: ‘Well, I can see you run here, you run there. The danger is that by running everywhere, you’re missing out on the many beautiful things the world has to offer. My suggestion is to stop running, stop working and enjoy what you’ve built up.

‘Now I work for six months running my restaurants, then we spend half the year at our vineyard in Sardinia. I don’t do one day more of work than I do of holiday.

‘Otherwise, I see myself as a failure as a father and a husband, because I don’t give enough time to the people around me. I’d rather bank memories than money.’

Gino D’Acampo and IRG have been contacted for comment.