Popular city centre restaurant forced to call in the administrators

A city centre restaurant which specialises in seafood has called in the administrators.

Randall & Aubin is on Bridge Street in Manchester close to the busy Spinningfields area of the city.

The brand, which is co-owned by TV chef Ed Baines, started life as a butchers in Soho in 1911 and has been operating as a restaurant in Soho for the last 20 years.

The Manchester restaurant opened for business last year but has recently been put up for sale.

It is the second restaurant in Manchester to hit problems in the space of the week.

The Infamous Diner in the Northern Quarter went out of business last week after joint liquidators were appointed.

The Randall & Aubin restaurant in Soho has been operating successfully in Soho since 1996 but has struggled in Manchester.

The Manchester business has accumulated losses of £669,000 despite having a turnover of £1.44m.

Insolvency practitioners CFS Restructuring have been appointed to oversee the sale.

The lease is advertised at £80,000 a year and a sale is expected to be completed within a matter of weeks.

Ed Baines told the Manchester Evening News: “The current operator is not in a position to continue trading as he is.

“In year one they have built some considerable debts and have found themselves in a position that’s unsustainable to carry on.

“It’s a large site and as a seafood restaurant specialising in wild food it is notoriously hard to find quality suppliers so there were massive early costs with logistics.”

Chef Ed Baines and restaurateur Jamie Poulton own the Soho business.