BDO clears bar chain's debt
City Bars & Restaurants was saved from administration today after BDO Stoy Hayward negotiated the sale of its Covent Garden unit to the owners of Tiger Tiger night clubs.
The Covent Garden outlet was sold to Chorion for £2.75m and will allow City Bars to discharge all its creditors and pay off the money it borrowed, enabling the company to continue trading as normal.
Administrator David Gilbert said the administration ‘was a nice team effort’, and was resolved in record time.
Gilbert applauded the managers for moving quickly when they ran into problems and ‘ring-fencing’ their business from creditors.
He also praised them for holding off their Covent Garden launch until the bar was ready, even if that meant not taking advantage of the profitable Christmas period. This, he said, made the restaurant ‘a highly attractive purchase for Chorion’.
City Bars went into administration on 1 May after a failed restaurant venture which cost it about £1.5m, severely damaging its working capital base.
The company is continuing to operate, with two nightclub venues, Tokyo Joe’s and Ten Rooms, both trading profitably.
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