Jamie Oliver’s two flagship London restaurants have gone into administration with one earmarked for closure.
His upmarket Barbecoa steak restaurant in Piccadilly set to close a year after it opened. Oliver has saved the other Barbecoa restaurant, near St Paul’s Cathedral, having acquired it for an undisclosed sum via a newly-created subsidiary.
It comes as the celebrity chef’s overall business faces widespread closures. Last month his restaurant group announced that it was shutting down 12 of its 37 Jamie’s Italian restaurants as part of a rescue plan with creditors that would enable it to continue trading despite debts of £71.5m. The chain had previously closed down six Jamie’s Italian restaurants in January 2017.
Commenting on the potential closures, a spokesperson for Jamie Oliver Restaurant Group said: “We can confirm that Barby Limited [the company behind the Barbecoa restaurants] has been placed into administration. One New Change Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Jamie Oliver Restaurant Group, has purchased the assets and lease of Barbecoa St Paul’s and will be trading as normal.”
Barbecoa St Paul’s was bought back under a pre-pack arrangement which allows the purchase of the best assets of a business before it actually goes into administration. Barby made a loss of £473,758 in the year to January 1 2017 in its latest published figures.
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