£48m bar and club sale falls through

Aug 5 2009 By Christopher Knox, The Journal

STRUGGLING leisure company Premium Bars and Restaurants (PBR) went into administration last night after a £48m deal to buy the company fell apart.

Administrators BDO Stoy Hayward immediately shut three of the firm’s 48 outlets, including the Rewind bar in Newcastle’s Bigg Market, with the loss of 23 jobs.

The firm, which will also close Advocate in Belfast and Sea nightclub in Glasgow with the loss of 54 jobs, has been teetering on the brink of collapse for weeks while the owners looked to close a deal with London property tycoons the Reuben brothers.

However, the billionaires’ company pulled out of its previous offer to buy the ailing company for £48m. It is believed it was concerned about the amount of debt it would take on.

PBR has racked up debts of over £40m, mainly as a result of its purchase of the 13-strong Living Room restaurant chain in 2007 with £32m of bank lending.

However, with PBR’s bankers, led by Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), said to be unwilling to write off large chunks of the debt, BDO Stoy Hayward have stepped in to find a buyer.

PBR, which changed its name from Ultimate Leisure in 2007 before moving its Newcastle headquarters to Cheshire last year, employs 1,800 staff and operates the Blu Bambu and Sea nightclubs in Newcastle, bars Chase and Jimmyz in Newcastle, the Water- side Hotel on Newcastle Quayside and Rex Hotel in Whitley Bay, as well as the Living Room Restaurant in Newcastle.