Marriage-split Keith Floyd in intensive care after collapsing in pub following a week of whisky

The flamboyant celebrity collapsed earlier this week while staying at Chesters pub in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, which is run by his friend Glenn Geldard.

Mr Geldard who has regularly visited the flamboyant chef in hospital said he was "very poorly" and revealed that Floyd's estranged fourth wife Tess, 42, was by his bedside.

Glenn said: "He is in the intensive care unit. I was by his bedside until 4am on Wednesday night. Everybody is just waiting to find out anything at all.

"He was looking very unwell throughout the night and was slipping in and out of consciousness."

Scroll down for more...

A spokesman for the hospital said that Floyd had refused staff permission to reveal details of his condition.

Mr. Geldard added: "His sister and her husband are here, as is his estranged wife, which shows that everybody is just wishing him the best."

The 64-year-old had spent a week drinking whisky following the breakdown of his marriage.

Floyd, famous for slurping wine while running through his recipes on screen, split from his 42-year-old fourth wife Tess just before Christmas.

Scroll down for more...

He was taken to the University Hospital of North Staffordshire, where he remains.

Mr Geldard said he had been to visit him at the hospital this morning.

He said: "He is not doing very well. I've just been down to the hospital now.

"He was at the pub when he collapsed. I was not there - I have a number of other businesses."

His manager Stan Green insisted that while marital difficulties had left him upset, the collapse was not alcohol-related.

Instead, he blamed it on exhaustion brought on after the chef recently returned from six weeks work at his restaurant in Thailand.

"Everyone knows Keith likes a drink - his favourite tipple is Scotch," Mr Green added. "But it has never been a problem for him and I doubt whether it is a factor in his collapse."

Floyd was staying at the Chesters pub in Stoke-on-Trent, run by his friend Glenn Geldard, to help him launch a newly-refurbished bar.

He had spent the last week mixing with locals while enjoying glasses of whisky topped up with water. He was described as looking malnourished, and is understood to have been walking with the aid of a stick.

The chef was in a guest bedroom upstairs at the pub when he collapsed on Tuesday afternoon, complaining of breathing difficulties and chest pains.

An ambulance took him to the University Hospital of North Staffordshire in Stoke, where his estranged wife has visited him.

Mr Geldard, 54, said last night: "Keith is very poorly at the moment so we are all hoping he battles back to full health. It's been a very difficult time for him. He split from Tess shortly before Christmas and recently he's been burying himself in his work.

"He's only just flown back to the UK from Thailand, where he had been working in his restaurant for the last six months.

"That had really taken it out of him and he looked shattered. He had moved up here because of personal problems. I think his failing health is a mixture of factors.

"I was down in Oxfordshire when I heard he'd collapsed, so I rushed straight back.

"He has been very depressed and hasn't been eating properly - he looks malnourished. Keith has been staying with me to help sort himself out and help relaunch the pub.

"The locals have really taken to him since he's been here and has spent the last week or so chatting with the regulars.

"I was hoping to set up an eaterie at Chesters, like a Floyd Thai or Floyd India - something like that. Keith would lend his name to it, and we'd get recipes out of his cookbooks."

The chef, whose home is in Avignon in southern France, suffered a similar collapse while working in Thailand last year.