DESPERATE landlord Simon Collins is in dire need of a chef after spending almost a year advertising for someone to help run his kitchen.

Mr Collins, 34, of The Bolingbroke Hotel in Hook, said: "We've been rushed off our feet since we took over two years ago. So we started advertising for someone to help our head chef out. But no one has come forward."

The hotel's kitchen facilities have just been enlarged and the head chef, Stephen Thomas, is in desperate need of a deputy.

"We cannot understand it. We pay good rates, encourage imagination in the kitchen and have a good reputation so this is a complete mystery," Mr Collins added.

He believes that this is a Swindon-wide problem and there are other landlords and restaurateurs in the same situation.

Mr Collins said: "I drive around Swindon and see blackboards outside pubs and restaurants all asking for the same person: a bright and enthusiastic chef to join their team.

"That's what we need but we haven't been lucky enough to recruit them yet."

James Arkell, managing director of Arkell's Brewery which owns the hotel, reinforced such claims.

He said: "There does seem to be a shortage of catering staff in Swindon at the moment.

"What we need is a Jamie Oliver-style cookery school in the area to bring on the next generation of chefs."