The owner of a trendy London restaurant who waved a fake gun at passers-by has been branded ‘stupid’ by a judge.

Richard Gladwin, 31, co-owner of ‘wild food’ restaurant Rabbit , on Chelsea ’s fashionable King’s Road, was arrested with his manager Fred Samengo-Turner, 27, on August 28 this year.

The pair terrified pedestrians by brandishing the double barrelled shotgun towards them outside the eatery, after swigging champagne.

Gladwin, 31, of Albert Bridge Road, Wandsworth, and Samengo-Turner, 27, of Bolingbroke Road, Fulham , admitted charges of carrying a firearm in a public place and affray at Isleworth Crown Court on Thursday (December 17).

Originally the pair were charged with possessing a firearm with intent to cause violence, which had been denied at an earlier hearing.

Prosecutor Kate Blumgart agreed to an amendment of the charges as the defendants were willing to admit that they had taken the actions described in the original charge but that the weapon was not a real gun.

Neil Sandys, representing Gladwin, admitted that the pair’s actions had been “appalling”.

Restaurant manager Fred Samengo-Turner arrives at court

Judge Richard McGregor-Johnson released the pair on unconditional bail and took the time to address them directly about their actions.

The judge said: “It is a pretty stupid piece of behaviour this, a behaviour for those who were on the receiving end would have been very frightened.

"I appreciate that this was not a real gun but they did not know that.”

Rabbit opened last year and boasts it’s ‘sustainable ingredients and wines from the family farm in Sussex are served in a bucolic space’.The restaurant is run by Gladwin, who is front of house, and his younger brothers Oliver, a chef, and Gregory, who grows produce on the family farm in West Sussex.

Gladwin and Samengo-Turner will return to Isleworth Crown Court for sentencing on January 28.