http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/73520282-f194-11dd-8790-0000779fd2ac.html?nclick_check=1

Restaurants in the UK have been hit harder by the recession than any other parts of the leisure and hospitality sector, accounting for 45 per cent of the industry's insolvencies in the final quarter of 2008, according to PwC.

One hundred and forty-one restaurants collapsed during the final three months of last year, compared with 107 during the fourth quarter of 2007. In total, 503 restaurants became insolvent in 2008 - a 32 per cent rise on the previous year.

Stephen Broome, PwC's hospitality and leisure director, said the figures offered further evidence that Britain's dining-out boom could be coming to an end.

"Mid-range restaurants that do not focus on either a value for money or a unique experience have been disappearing since last summer", he said. "This trend is likely to accelerate."

Pressure on restaurants has intensified in recent months as competition from pub operators and supermarkets heaps further misery on a trade that is already battling higher energy and food costs as well as the slowdown in consumer spending.

Waitrose and Marks and Spencer have recently launched £10 meal-for-two offers, while JD Wetherspoon and Mitchells & Butlers, the pub groups, have reported higher like-for-like sales on the back of their value food offerings.

In response, many restaurant groups are offering discounted deals.

Mr Broome said high-end operators would be particularly vulnerable to the deepening recession given their dependence on corporate spending.

"Most of them lease their properties", he said, "so they have high rent to pay, high fitting-out costs. With such high operating costs, you don't need much of a revenue decline to feel cash flow pressure."

FishWorks, an upmarket chain of fishmongers-cum-restaurants founded by Mitchell Tonks, a celebrity chef, was put into a "pre-pack" administration last month. Its collapse came after two restaurants owned by Tom Aikens, another celebrity chef, suffered a similar demise.

Foxtrot Oscar in Chelsea, one of Gordon Ramsay's restaurants, is now open for lunch only on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, due to a lack of bookings.