Closure in city played part in Hub Box collapse

ROYAL WILLIAM YARD RESTAURANT LASTED LESS THAN TWO YEARS

- WILLIAM TELFORD

HUGE losses racked up by a Plymouth restaurant contributed to Hub Box Ltd collapsing with debts of more than £8 million.

The failed burger chain company’s Royal William Yard eatery shut in April, after being open for less than two years. Now documents filed at Companies House reveal the Truro-headquartered company pumped £1 million into the waterfront restaurant, but it ended up losing £400,000 and had to shut.

Three months later, the entire company collapsed into administration, with creditors likely to lose £7.916 million.

Ten of the chain’s restaurants in the South West and more than 300 jobs were “saved” when the stricken firm’s business and assets were sold to a new, but connected, company run by some of its directors, under a pre-pack deal last month, but the transaction meant sums owed by Hub Box Ltd are now unlikely to be paid. These include nearly £5 million owed to unsecured creditors.