Heathcote closes two restaurants
CHEF Paul Heathcote has been forced to close down two of his restaurants – one in Yorkshire – due to poor trading, leaving him with a total of nine outlets.
The well-known Lancastrian chef has shut down a Simply Heathcotes outlet in Liverpool and an Olive Press outlet in Leeds.
A spokeswoman for Heathcote said that both restaurants were closed on August 25 and cited the recession and poor footfall as the reasons for their closures.
She said that trading at Simply Heathcote’s restaurant at Beetham Plaza in Liverpool had shut down after 10 years of trading following the recent demolition of a footbridge linking the outlet to offices and the Albert Dock on the opposite side of the busy Pall Mall dual carriageway to Beetham Plaza.
“All of the staff at Simply Heathcotes Liverpool have been offered jobs within other parts of the group,” she said.
The spokeswoman added that a similar offer had been made to 17 staff working at Heathcote’s Olive Press branch in Leeds, which was only opened two years ago at a cost of £250,000. However, since the nearest outlet to the Leeds restaurant was almost 50 miles away none of them had taken up the offer and had all been made redundant.
However, she added that Heathcote had been talking to several of the city’s other restaurateurs in a bid to find for the staff.
Heathcote’s business empire underwent a financial restructuring earlier this year, with investor Bruntwood 2000 converting loan notes owed by Simply Heathcotes Ltd and parent firm Heathcote Restaurants Ltd into equity in the businesses. Bruntwood’s chief executive, Chris Oglseby, and finance director Andy Allan are also directors of both companies.
The last filed accounts for Simply Heathcotes reveal a pre-tax loss for 2008 of £673,477 in the year to December 31, 2008. However, losses at parent company Heathcotes Restaurants were much lower – just £2,618.
Heathcote’s remaining outlets include his signature restaurant at Longridge in Preston, the London Road restaurant at Alderley Edge and the £1m Grado Spanish restaurant in Manchester city centre.
