A restaurateur from Weston-super-Mare has been banned from running a business for six years after failing to maintain a company’s books and records.

Pop Up Kitchen was set up in June 2015 and Alan Vinnicombe, aged 65, was appointed a director at the same time.

The company traded as a consultancy for the catering industry before taking over the licence and management of the kitchen at the Blue Ball Inn in Exeter.

By October 2018, however, Pop Up Kitchen entered into insolvency proceedings, which brought the company and the conduct of Vinnicombe to the attention of the Insolvency Service.

According to Vinnicombe, he suspended his directorship of Pop up Kitchen in March 2016 due to personal reasons and a third party took over the management of the company.

However, this was not recorded at Companies House and investigators were unable to verify Vinnicombe’s account of what happened as the company records were not properly preserved.

The lack of company records also meant investigators were unable to clarify the company’s trading activities, what was the cause of the company’s insolvency, Pop up Kitchen’s income and expenditure, and what tax the company paid.

On June 3, the Secretary of State accepted a disqualification undertaking from Vinnicombe after he did not dispute that he had caused Pop Up Kitchen to fail by failing to preserve adequate accounting records.

The ban is effective from June 24 after which the restaurateur is banned for six years from acting as a director or directly or indirectly becoming involved, without the permission of the court, in the promotion, formation or management of a company.

Rob Clarke, chief investigator for the Insolvency Service, said: “Preserving and maintaining company records is a basic requirement for all directors.

“The total lack of records in this case has made it impossible for us to determine whether there was other, more serious, misconduct at the company and that is reflected in Alan Vinnicombe’s lengthy period of disqualification.”

Alan Vinnicombe used to own the Panoramic restaurant and bistro in Knighstone Road. He appeared on Channel 5 show The Restaurant Inspector in 2012.