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Popular bar chain to close 11 venues forever TODAY as 25 more face axe
Bars to close across the UK as chain battles rising costs
A POPULAR bar chain is set to close 11 venues today as 25 more face the axe.
Revolution Bars Group will shut the locations today as part of a major overhaul of its operations.
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The chain currently operates 38 Revolution Bar branded sites across the UK.
It also owns Revolucion de Cuba bars, Peach Pubs and a Founders & Co site.
The chain's bar on Deansgate Locks in Manchester city centre will close for the final time today, along with venues in Blackpool and Chester.
Bars will welcome in guests for the final time in Blackpool, Chester and Norwich next month.
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Meanwhile, bars in Edinburgh and Inverness, Scotland, will be shuttering permanently after two further sites closed in Torquay and Southend in June.
This is the full list of 11 locations which are confirmed to close on August 11:
Bar chain Revolution to close Scots pub
- Blackpool
- Chester
- Deansgate Locks, Manchester
- Edinburgh, Scotland
- Inverness, Scotland
- Leadenhall
- Loughborough
- Norwich
- Hockley, Nottingham
- Stafford
- King Street, Wigan
In April bosses at Revolution announced plans for a major restructure of the company.
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The chain has been dealing with cost of living pressures which were affecting its sales.
At the time it said that would involved 12 locations closing, though at the time it did not say the locations affected.
But The Sun exclusively revealed in July that the above sites would close.
The firm was also considering whether putting itself up for sale would be better than restructuring at the time.
It has since agreed to the restructure and has announced further sites will shut as a result.
The chain had considered putting itself up for sale but failed to find an interested buyer.
At the time of closing the sales process it warned creditors the group faced administration if restructuring plans were not backed.
Now, the plans have been approved at the High Court - but with 25 more sites set to close.
The plans mean it will avoid insolvency after struggling since the pandemic.
After the overhaul is completed, the company said it will operate 65 venues.
This will consist of 27 Revolution Bars, 15 Revolucion de Cuba bars, 22 Peach Pubs and one Founders & Co site.
Why are retailers closing shops?
EMPTY shops have become an eyesore on many British high streets and are often symbolic of a town centre’s decline.
The Sun's business editor Ashley Armstrong explains why so many retailers are shutting their doors.
In many cases, retailers are shutting stores because they are no longer the money-makers they once were because of the rise of online shopping.
Falling store sales and rising staff costs have made it even more expensive for shops to stay open. In some cases, retailers are shutting a store and reopening a new shop at the other end of a high street to reflect how a town has changed.
The problem is that when a big shop closes, footfall falls across the local high street, which puts more shops at risk of closing.
Retail parks are increasingly popular with shoppers, who want to be able to get easy, free parking at a time when local councils have hiked parking charges in towns.
Many retailers including Next and Marks & Spencer have been shutting stores on the high street and taking bigger stores in better-performing retail parks instead.
Boss Stuart Machin recently said that when it relocated a tired store in Chesterfield to a new big store in a retail park half a mile away, its sales in the area rose by 103 per cent.
In some cases, stores have been shut when a retailer goes bust, as in the case of Wilko, Debenhams Topshop, Dorothy Perkins and Paperchase to name a few.
What’s increasingly common is when a chain goes bust a rival retailer or private equity firm snaps up the intellectual property rights so they can own the brand and sell it online.
They may go on to open a handful of stores if there is customer demand, but there are rarely ever as many stores or in the same places.
The locations affected have not yet been revealed, but it will impact loss-making bars.
At the end of last year, it was running 89 sites including 46 Revolution Bars. It will now be left with 65 locations.
Commenting on Friday when the plans were announced, executive Rob Pitcher said: “The group is now well diversified across the key brands, providing a more secure financial base and we look forward to the future with improved optimism.
"We know this has been a very difficult period for all of our teams both in our sites and in our support office and I’d like to thank them for their support and resilience.”
Hundreds of staff could face losing their job.
The company, like many across the UK, has struggled to cope with rising rents and the cost of living crisis.
In 2016 the chain underwent a major overhaul, shifting away from the student scene toward the gastropub market.
In 2020, the bar chain announced plans to shutter six sites as it struggled to keep afloat during the coronavirus pandemic.
What is happening in the hospitality industry?
Food and drink chains in general have been suffering as the cost of living has led to fewer people spending on eating out.
Businesses had been struggling to bounce back after the pandemic, only to be hit with soaring energy bills and inflation.
Multiple chains have been affected, resulting in big-name brands like Wetherspoons and Frankie & Benny's closing branches.
Some chains have not survived, Byron Burger fell into administration last year, with owners saying it would result in the loss of over 200 jobs.
Pizza giant Papa Johns has announced plans in recent months to shut down 43 of its stores.
Tasty, the owner of Wildwood, said it will shutter the sites as part of major restructuring plans.
The brand also announced plans to close 20 loss-making restaurants after a “challenging” start to the year.
Read More on The Sun
Britain's biggest pub company, Stonegate, has raised fears about its survival as it races to plug its debts.
Stonegate owns 4,432 sites across the UK under the Slug & Lettuce, Be at One, Sports Bar & Grill brands and 350 traditional style pubs under its “Proper Pubs” banner.
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