I think when we opened in 2001, it was holy ground. There was nothing here. Back then, being on the Dubai Creek was an amazing position, and I would come one or two times a year, max. Now it's so different. The travel dilemma has disappeared and it is so easy to get to Dubai. What is it, seven hours from London? It's pretty easy.

One thing I can't afford to get sucked up in is the trend formation of restaurants here. I've invested heavily. We have a ten-year lease. More importantly, the style, the feel and the décor of the dining room is vibrant.

Pressure's healthy. It becomes stressful when you can't handle that. I mean, if you don't want to become pressurized in this environment, then don't be a chef.

Long Island for me, it's producing more chefs coming out of there than Paris.

I was a naturally aggressive left-back, a cut-throat tackler.

That's the problem. Anyone can go and buy a restaurant. I want to be at that f - ing dinner party where they say, "Hey, Bill, your food's great. You should buy yourself a restaurant." That's not right. Taking it less personally.

The secret is to make sure the business is running to perfection, with or without me.