Clubway 41 / Jacksons - Kitchen Nightmares Update - Open or Closed?

Kitchen Nightmares Clubway 41  / Jacksons

In this Kitchen Nightmares episode, Gordon Ramsay visits Clubway 41 in Blackpool, England.

Clubway 41 is the failing ‘Blackpool Restaurant of the Year’ owned by Dave Jackson and his partner Dawn Brindley.

Initially the title brought in customers but the customers have dried up with only the cafe on the first floor keeping the three floor business afloat.

Just 18 months later and they barely turn over £5000 a week, not enough to keep the business afloat.

Clubway 41 is on the second floor and customers have to pass through the cafe to get to the restaurant.

Dawn takes care of the front house on the second floor while Dave cooks on the third floor.

Gordon meets Dave who is cooking a popular dish of bread and butter pudding.

He explains that the ‘soup of the moment’ is any soup they have on that day like Tomato and Cointreau soup, which he promises people love.

A three-course meal at Clubway 41 is reasonable and costs £25.

Gordon orders a salmon and strawberry salad that he did not like.

Next is Pork with Brie and Nectarine sauce and the pork is tough, the parsnip crisps are bendy and the sauce disgusting.

Only the mash potatoes impressed Gordon out of all of the food that he tasted.

Gordon goes into Blackpool and discovers that no one has heard of the restaurant or knows where it is.

He also reads some of the nomination forms from the tourist board and is disbelieving of the positive reviews.

Both owners have lost their homes and are in danger of losing their restaurant as well.

Gordon has a group of 20 people come in filling the restaurant only halfway and he observes how they handle the service.

They need to serve all of them within one and a half hours.

Nigel is the short order cook from the cafe and he is enlisted to help Dave that afternoon.

Dave’s inexperience shows very quickly, he flits about with the orders and doesn’t communicate and allows food to burn.

Customers wait more than 30 mins to get their food and Dawn had to come back to explain the tickets to him.

Gordon sets up a blind taste test with Dave and Nigel serving him some of the restaurant’s concoctions and they admit they are gross and don't work.

Gordon speaks with Dawn to find out why she thinks up weird concoctions.

He understands she was trying to make something exciting to entice customers but it isn’t working.

Gordon challenges Dave to make something simple, a Broccoli soup.

Dave uses 16 ingredients and its bland and Gordon uses only 3 and it tastes better.

Next, Gordon tackles the name which sounds too much like a strip club.

They settled on Jackson’s, which is Dave's surname and Dawn agrees but only if he agrees to marry her.

Gordon tries to pick Dave’s brain about what is fresh locally but he says he has no idea and relies on suppliers.

Gordon tells them to move the dinner service downstairs into the cafe where the dining room is visible from outside.

He also creates a new quick and easy menu that they can cook in the cafe.

Gordon discovers that Dave has barely stepped foot in the kitchen since training in the 70s and does not even know how to do the basics such as a casserole.

Gordon takes him through cooking with local fresh produce, something he has not done in years.

When Gordon finds out he has never cooked mussels, they argue, they raise their voices and shout obscenities at each other.

The next exercise is spinning plates at the circus to train Dave on mental coordination and control.

They give the restaurant and cafe a makeover with just a coat of paint and some new tablecloths it makes a big difference.

The chefs are also given new uniforms.

On relaunch night, all the food is pre-made so portions are set, all they need to do is boil the mains in the bag and serve.

Dave is cooking in front of customers on the ground floor and he is more confident.

Almost an hour in confusion sets in and customers start to wait.

They run out of steak and have to tell the customers, one hour after they order, that they won’t get their meal.

Dawn does great keeping customers happy and they are complementary of the meals they receive.

Dave and Nigel are happy with how they handled the evening and figure with some more practice they can work out the issues.

Dawn also promises not to put any funny meal ideas into Dave’s head.



What Happened Next at Clubway 41/Jacksons?

Eight months later, Gordon revisits and things had got worse at the restaurant.

Nigel is no longer working at the restaurant with no reason given.

A bus terminal had been moved to out the front of the restaurant and it is noisy with fumes from the buses.

They had to go back to frozen food and end dinner service to cut costs.

They appeared to have given up on trade from the locals and had closed the restaurant for the winter months.

Gordon sends Dawn out to drum up business with a Kids Eat Free promotion, the promotion is popular and the restaurant is packed once again.

Jacksons closed in September 2006.

It reopened with new owners in 2007 as the Market Street Diner but this appears to have since closed.

Dawn and Dave have since split up. I am unsure whether they got married prior to the split.

Clubway 41 / Jacksons aired on March 07 2006, the episode was filmed in December 2004 and is Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares UK season 3 episode 3.

This post was last updated in February 2022.

17 comments:

  1. i wonder if they ever got married.

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  2. yeh they did. I'm their son!

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  3. Yeah they had me as well
    im there 2nd son!


    ps.Hey Bro!

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  4. Hey Bros! It's me! Son number 3!

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  5. I'm Son number 4, I can't stop saying Nughhhh! for some reason, must be a family thing.

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  6. I'm their daughter!

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  7. Son number 5 checking innuuughhh!

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  8. Son number 6! Although I seem to have blonde spiky hair and a Scottish accent.... Hmmm...

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  9. and im the dad! all you kids get in the oven!

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  10. I highly doubt you can call or a Ramsay curse...he comes in hoping to turn around something that most of the times, it at the end if its rope. Passed the point of saviour but somehow he makes it happen...with anything there is going to be some that don't make it...that is called life

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  11. I reckon Nigel was sacked for making a pass at Dawn

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  12. Maybe Nigel was the father of all those sons and daughters above and that's why he got sacked.

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  13. im dawn's lover and you are my sons and daughters

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  14. The comments here have been hilarious. Good job, you crazy nuts! And if you're coming here late to the party, give it a rest. The joke has run its course...although it was a good course!

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  15. Shame, over 10 years later I came here hoping to find out whatever happened to Dave and Dawn ... and all I find is their wiseacre "kids" posting here. Sad state when no one cares about any of the hardworking people on any of these shows, unless they are "hot" or have a "nice rack." And even then, the comments show the attitudes accordingly. :(

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  16. I have stopped accepting the son/daughter comments, there have been over 20 7th sons so far, it was funny but agreed it has run its course. Grace x

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  17. Sadly it appears Chef David died sometime in 2014/2015 according to his now 'in memoriam' Facebook page. No idea what happened to Dawn or whether they married.

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