16 TGI Fridays shut as it falls into administration

RESTAURANT chain TGI Fridays has shut 16 restaurants with the loss of 456 jobs after tumbling into administration. However, the brand said it would keep most of its sites open after securing a rescue deal.

- By Henry Saker-Clark

Liberty Bar and Restaurant Group, the company running TGI Fridays’ UK restaurants, fired administrators from Interpath Advisory on Tuesday.

They immediately sold the business and its assets to a subsidiary company of Sugarloaf, the firm behind the global TGI Fridays brand.

Sugarloaf had two months earlier bought the UK business from private equity firm Calveton UK and Breal Capital. Administrators confirmed the pre-pack administration deal would safeguard 33 restaurants and transfer 1,384 staff to the new operation.