Liverpool restaurant group calls in administrators

A restaurant group which put three restaurants up for sale last year has called in the administrators.

Bistro Qui?, which based in Liverpool, put its venues the Refinery and Hub Alehouse and Kitchen on the market last October.

The company also put Bistro Jacques in Shrewsbury on the market.

Manchester based firm Mission Mars acquired the Hub Alehouse & Kitchen in Liverpool after receiving £10m from the Business Growth Fund towards its expansion last year.

Mission Mars, which operates Albert’s Schloss and Rudy’s Neapolitan Pizza in Manchester, acquired the leasehold of the property off an asking price of £750,000 earlier this month.

The Hub is Mission Mars’s 12th venue overall and its second in Liverpool.

At the time Mark Friend, the owner of Bistro Qui?, said he was looking to sell the business as part of a portfolio rationalisation.

He said: “We wish the new owners every success with the Hub Alehouse & Kitchen and we are sure they can take this site to a new level that will please the existing team and the clientele alike.”

Tom O’Malley, senior business agent at Christie & Co who handled the sale, said: “We’re delighted to have brokered an agreement with Mission Mars and we’re confident that the business will prove to be a successful addition to their growing portfolio.

“This deal stands as testament to the demand for high quality bars and restaurants in key city centres throughout the North West, as well as to the appetite of both regional and national purchasers.”

Bistro Qui was founded in 2003 and ran a total of seven sites including Chica Peruvian Kitchen and the Button Street Smokehouse.

John P Fisher and Ian C Brown , both of Liverpool firm Parkin S Booth & Co, have been appointed joint administrators.