RUMOURS that TV chef Rick Stein is set to buy Cafe Shore in Sandbanks have started heating up.

The chef, who is known for his love of seafood, is believed to have been approached to buy the fashionable Poole restaurant, which went into liquidation this week – five months after the business was wrecked by a fire.

Gossip has been bubbling over amongst local estate agents and business owners that the fish maestro is planning to open a new restaurant on the peninsula.

Jane Jones, who runs a local PR firm, said: “I’ve heard that he is planning to buy Cafe Shore. I thought it was a done deal.”

But a spokeswoman for Rick Stein’s company, told the Echo that she couldn’t confirm anything at this stage.

She said: “We are a forward-thinking company and we often get approached to consider new opportunities.

“We opened our first restaurant outside Cornwall in Winchester last year, but I cannot confirm whether we are considering, or even if we have been approached, about any venture in Sandbanks.”

The Rick Stein restaurant which opened in Winchester last autumn, sparked rumours at the time that it might be the start of a chain to be rolled out across the country.

But this has been denied by his company, which remains a family-run operation – Rick, his wife Jill and all three sons are involved in the business. Executive chef and Rick’s middle son, Jack Stein, currently oversees the menu development and kitchen at Winchester and his youngest son Charles, who works for The Vintner in London, supplies some of the company’s wines.

Since Rick opened his first flagship seafood restaurant in 1975, the Padstow-based business has grown to include five restaurants, accommodation, retail outlets and a cookery school. His Cornish empire now extends so far, that the town has been re-named Padstein.

Steinbanks could well be next.