The administrators of Atrium Bars, the Nottinghamshire-based pub company, have announced it has sold one site and is seeking a buyer for the company’s remaining outlet.
FRP Advisory were appointed after a “downturn in trading put unsustainable pressure on the company under its current financial structure”.
FRP told M&C The Atrium in Newark, Nottinghamshire, has been sold to JS Pubco, and has continued to trading, safeguarding all of the pub’s 15 staff.
FRP is continuing to market the remaining Atrium, a freehold pub in Grantham, Lincolnshire, which is currently being run by LT Pub Management.
On the reasons for administration FRP said: “Atrium Bars has traditionally enjoyed a loyal local customer base but trading had for several years been impacted by the ban on smoking in all pubs and bars, in line with the effect felt by the whole sector. Fairview Investments had high levels of debt to service, taken on to fund acquisitions of property-based assets in the pubs business which have yet to recover the capital values eroded since the financial crisis of 2008-10. A combination of declining turnover and margins coupled with a fall in capital values removed the ability for Fairview Investments to refinance the Company under its current financial structure and left the directors with no viable options other than seeking the protection of administration while seeking buyers for the underlying pubs businesses.”
