Jamie Oliver has blamed Brexit as one reason for the collapse of his restaurant empire.
The TV chef claims that diners stopped eating out due to uncertainty triggered by the 2016 EU referendum result.
Oliver, 44, said: “The world changed, the high street changed – it started to become Uber-fied. Our competitors changed, and we looked less different to them.
“There’s that chain reaction, throw in a bit of Brexit, confidence goes and people’s habits changed.”
But he added: “It’s a fascinating time – one for me to sit back, learn some stuff, be humbled, try to deal with the mess and move on.”
Around 1,000 jobs were lost when Oliver’s Italian, Barbecoa and Fifteen 25 outlets went into administration this year.
The group lost £29million in a single year despite him having pumped in £13million of his owned money to try to reverse the slump.
In a two-part programme for BBC Radio 4’s The Food Programme, marking 20 years since he burst to stardom, Oliver said his “birthday was ruined because of the cloud” over his collapsed business.
But he added: “I’m fairly sure I’ve learnt valuable lessons that will allow me to do, possibly, some extraordinary things in the next 20 years in a very, very different way.
“I, weirdly, have a sense of gratitude for having seen the extraordinary best of it, and having had to live through the worst of it.”
Despite financial issues, Oliver spent £6million last year on a mansion in a 70-acre estate in Essex with wife Jools and their five children.
In 2015, he bought a £8.9million Grade II-listed mansion in North London.
