Chantrey Vellacott administrators save pub chain
Administrators manage to save more than 200 jobs at collapsed London pub chain Antic
CHANTREY VELLACOTT administrators have managed to sell a London pub chain securing more than 200 jobs.
Richard Toone (pictured), David Oprey and Kevin Murphy, partners at Chantrey Vellacott, were appointed joint administrators to the chain Antic on 14 January following its failure to pay an HMRC bill.
Antic Ltd has 14 pubs in its portfolio. However, one is currently closed due to a fire that occurred in December and another has yet to open due to a lack of capital in undertaking refurbishment work.
Gregarious Limited has bought 12 of the pubs.
Toone said there had been significant interest in the pubs with more than 20 formal offers received by the administrators.
“A lot of hard work has been done to get this sale over the line, and we’re delighted to complete a sale of 12 sites which includes the transfer of over 200 jobs,” he said.
“We’re pleased to have finalised a deal with the director of Gregarious Limited and are confident the new owners are well placed to stabilise the leases at each of the pubs and make them a success again.”
Gregarious was formed by former Antic director Max Alderman, receiving funding supervised by fund managers Downing LLP.