Collapsed Hard Rock Cafe owed over £2.6m

THE Newcastle franchise of world-famous rock'n'roll restaurant chain Hard Rock Cafe collapsed with debts of more than £2.6m, documents reveal.

- COREENA FORD Business writer coreena [e-mail]

David Tilly and Penny Tilly took over The Guidhall building to bring the global brand to the North East for the first time back in 2018, but they say their plans were beset with challenges from the start.

In the month that work started on fitting out the building the world went into lockdown - and it was more than a year later, in May 2021, that it was finally able to open.

However, just before St Patrick's Day events were due to be held there in March, the doors were closed to customers and it later emerged that it had ceased trading, with the loss of all 37 jobs.

Documents have now been filed by administrators at FRP Advisory in which the directors cite a series of challenges that led to its demise, including the pandemic, lockdowns and Covid-19 restriction, as well as the cost of living crisis.

The report says the Tillys had invested over £2m into the refurbishment of the Guildhall, the issues and losses during the pandemic and the increased costs due to events around the world and cost of living crisis, prompting them to approach Hard Rock International about selling the franchise in 2022, just 18 months after it had finally been able to open, “due to the directors’ poor health and difficulties with poor trading figures”.

When the company went into administration it had a total deficiency of £2.68m, which includes unsecured creditors who are owed £421,0024; redundancy pay of £3,929 owed to employees; a further redundancy sum of £67,410; and a £16,660 bounce back loan from Lloyds Bank.