There's no getting around that it's been tough out there on the High Street recently. We've already seen the collapse of Patisserie Valerie and now here comes the most high-profile collapse yet. Jamie Oliver has announced that his restaurant group has gone into administration.
25 of his restaurants are affected - mainly Jamie's Italians - but there are two high-profile restaurants too, Barbecoa (in St Paul's) and his flagship restaurant, Fifteen (the London restaurant only, Cornwall is not affected). In a later update, MCA insight confirmed via KPMG that 22 of these close with immediate effect - all except those at Gatwick - with 1000 redundancies.
Here's Jamie on Twitter:
I’m devastated that our much-loved UK restaurants have gone into administration. I am deeply saddened by this outcome and would like to thank all of the people who have put their hearts and souls into this business over the years. Jamie Oliver
— Jamie Oliver (@jamieoliver) May 21, 2019
The group has shown signs of stress before, with the chef admitting that he sank £12 million of his own money in an earlier bid to save the group and had to shut the Piccadilly Barbecoa less than a year after opening.
What does this mean for the celebrity chef's creditors? Well Private Eye did have this to say:
As Jamie Oliver's remaining restaurants collapse into administration, a reminder of how Private Eye revealed his previous creditors were being treated. From issue 1469, May 2018: pic.twitter.com/TI1IbnjEEW
— Private Eye Magazine (@PrivateEyeNews) May 21, 2019
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