BBC show boosts bookings for Manchester House and Rogan's the French

Manchester restaurants the French and Manchester House have been over-run with bookings following their appearance on a BBC TV show.

Restaurant Wars, the first episode of which aired on Monday night.

Following a first drama-filled episode, reservations for each site significantly increased.

Living Ventures â€' Tim Bacon's group, which owns Manchester House - confirmed to Caterer and Hotelkeeper that its online booking system crashed within the first half hour of the 8pm broadcast, while a representative for Simon Rogan confirmed that the French's bookings had increased by 577%, and its website traffic by an incredible 4,400%, in the hours following the show.

The BBC show, which is subtitled "The Battle for Manchester", profiles the recently-opened restaurants' attempts to win over the people of Manchester, whose restaurant scene has historically seemed impervious to celebrity chefs.

Each rival restaurant is shown to be opening at a similar time as the other, with cameras following the chefs as they seek to win the Manchester restaurant "wars".

The first episode showcased complaints from unimpressed locals, hasty interior refurbishments, not-quite-right recipe tastings, marketing issues, and other teething problems - such as Simon Rogan's liquid nitrogen being delivered without the pipe needed to actually use it.

Despite the show's behind-the-scenes mayhem, the newly-revamped French opened in March last year, while Manchester House opened in September â€' both to critically positive reception.

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