Paul Heathcote, the North West-based chef and restaurateur, has acquired three of his restaurants out of administration.
Longridge Restaurant Ltd, which comprised the recently closed Heathcotes Bar & Grill in Clitheroe, the eponymous Longridge eaterie, and the Preston-based Heathcotes Brasserie and the Olive Press, was placed into administration, earlier this month.
In what looks like a pre-pack administration, Heathcote has acquired the two Preston-based sites and the Longridge restaurant and left the Clitheroe site with administrators Leonard Curtis.
The Preston sites are to be run through new company PH Restaurants (Preston), while the Longridge site will be operated by PH Restaurants (Longridge).
Heathcote told a local newspaper: “The Clitheroe restaurant closed on July 22, but the two restaurants in Preston and Longridge are still trading as normal. The branch in Clitheroe has never been profitable and we couldn’t make it work. There came a point where the other two businesses were supporting it on a week-by-week basis.
“We are happy with the way things are going in Preston and Longridge, but the losses were substantial from the restaurant in Clitheroe. We had to rectify those circumstances.”
The chef had built up an estate of 11 eateries in the region.
Last November, Living Ventures, owner of the Gusto and Blackhouse Grill brands, acquired the lion’s share of Heathcote’s restaurant portfolio.
The former two-Michelin-starred chef sold five of his then nine restaurants to the group, which was founded by Tim Bacon and Jeremy Roberts, for an undisclosed sum. These included three Olive Press sites in Manchester, Liverpool and Cheadle Hulme as well as Grado in Manchester and London Road in Alderley Edge.
The move came after Heathcote was forced to close his Liverpool flagship Simply Heathcotes and the Leeds branch of his Olive Press group of restaurants.
