YOU’VE heard of a store within a store, so how about a chef within a pub? This is the latest hare-brained scheme from super-chef Marco Pierre White.

Still the owner of Mirabelle in Mayfair and the Criterion in Piccadilly, White sold Wheelers restaurant chain some time back, and what a dog’s dinner it was.

But like a victim returning to the scene of a car crash, White has decided to launch a slew of Wheeler’s in pubs up and down the country. As if we did not already have enough stinking gastropubs!

The ridiculous White has teamed up with Robert Earl whose gresatest culinary achievement was the chain of Hard Rock Cafe hamburger joints. Click on the “more” sign for the rest of the story.

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Under the scheme, the pair will buy up pubs across the home counties and put in a Wheelers-branded restaurant area. Even the bar could be turned into an oyster bar in keeping with the fishy theme.

Before traditionalists start to fret too much, the pubs will keep their name as part of the rebranding — so look forward to Wheelers at the Old Red Lion some time soon.

White and Earl think Wheelers will work best outside London — probably wise given the fairly lousy reputation the brand had a few years back when it was a chain with sites dotted across town.

Why are they bothering, you may ask? Answer, there is none.