A French restaurant chain that was started in Nottingham more than 30 years ago has been saved from administration – but nearly half of their restaurants are set to close.
Bistrot Pierre, which started in the city in 1994, has now been sold, with ten venues set to remain open. Eight of its locations will close though.
On Friday, March 7, the Nottingham-based restaurant appointed liquidators to wind up its company. The owners stated that the increase in the minimum wage and employers’ national insurance contributions made their smaller venues unviable.
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Therefore, while the sale to Cherry Equity has saved ten sites across the UK, which employed 394 people, eight smaller restaurants have now been closed, resulting in 158 jobs being lost.
The sites that are set to close include Mere Green, Southport, Preston, Leamington Spa, Newport, Coventry, and Birmingham. Last year, the restaurant celebrated its 30th anniversary, having first opened its Nottingham restaurant on Milton Street in 1994.
Accounts dated up to June 2023 showed that the restaurant’s turnover had fallen by £4 million, causing the company to lose £2million.
This forced the business to make redundancies in order to keep afloat. However owners say that the new government policies on the minimum wage and national insurance have made things much worse.
This is not the first time the chain has changed hands. Bistrot Pierre was last sold out of a pre-pack administration in 2020, which at the time caused six of its restaurants to close across the country.