Many many businesses DEAD

  • Thread starter Thread starter AGinAg (37)
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It was bought out by Bank Of Scotland first wasn't it? Who then were bought out by Lloyds.
 
This is another "I already thought they were dead" scenario

Exactly like TGI Friday - I have warmer memories of Beefeater / Brewers Fayre as a kid, but obviously as an adult I would never set foot. I don't know if that's just because I developed taste, or because they genuinely did go down the SHITTER (and served it on a plate)

metro.co.uk

Full list of all 195 Beefeater and Brewers Fayre restaurants closed this week

Close to 200 restaurants and pubs have shut down.
metro.co.uk metro.co.uk
 
Only went as a child. Harvester and Toby very much took over that corner of the market.

I used to like getting the Mr Men badges.
 
We went to the central Beefeater here (since closed) about 4 or 5 years ago, a few days before Christmas, and had their Christmas menu. The food was okay - nothing great, but equally not bad. But the service and decor was appalling. And the staff clearly utterly uninterested.
 
Actually I recall going with my in-laws as an adult and it was terrible.

I used to work on the bar there. It was fine in 2002.
 
Shoat said:
This is another "I already thought they were dead" scenario

Exactly like TGI Friday - I have warmer memories of Beefeater / Brewers Fayre as a kid, but obviously as an adult I would never set foot. I don't know if that's just because I developed taste, or because they genuinely did go down the SHITTER (and served it on a plate)

metro.co.uk

Full list of all 195 Beefeater and Brewers Fayre restaurants closed this week

Close to 200 restaurants and pubs have shut down.
metro.co.uk metro.co.uk
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Aww, I have fond memories of the Beefeater in Harrow that my uncle would take me and my mum to when we'd visit him in London in the 80s.
 
There’s a beefeater on the way to Southport which I went to once when I was younger and that’s where I discovered a knickerbocker glory.

I’ve been back a few times recently as it’s handy for somewhere to take my nephew that isn’t just down the road. Awful, of course. There’s a Premier Inn attached to it that looks like it should be condemned.
 
Our Beefeater became a Premier Inn, which closed recently and is becoming a Toby.

Everyone is happy about this.
 
Shutting. The owners (Whitbread) seem to be withdrawing from restaurants / pubs entirely, hence Brewers Fayre also being pulled.

Maybe some of the sites that are attached to their Premier Inns could just become part of the hotel, which I'm sure would continue to serve PREMIUM AWARD-WINNING gammon and not at all microwaved lasagnas
 
Shoat said:
Shutting. The owners (Whitbread) seem to be withdrawing from restaurants / pubs entirely, hence Brewers Fayre also being pulled.

Maybe some of the sites that are attached to their Premier Inns could just become part of the hotel, which I'm sure would continue to serve PREMIUM AWARD-WINNING gammon and not at all microwaved lasagnas
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Don’t come for that buffet breakfast tho! It’s good!
 
The Brewers Fayre opposite me on the pier went a few weeks ago and we were surprised- it’s quite busy. Actually a surprisingly good carvery too.

Glad it’s gone, though, it was fairly dreadful generally. It’s swiftly been taken over by an independent, though.
 
Slightly OT but I went for a hungover TOBY yesterday, and it was fucking RAMMED.
 
The food hall in London closed as well?

Ours did here about a year or so ago. Strange, as it was the only place in the shop I ever did see people actually buying anything. Fuck knows how it has stayed open here so long.
 
lolly said:
Ours did here about a year or so ago. Strange, as it was the only place in the shop I ever did see people actually buying anything. Fuck knows how it has stayed open here so long.
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It'll be turning into a House of Fraser (or Flannels) now of course.
 
Well the two main stores of the new development here when it opened in the late 00s were House Of Fraser and Harvey Nichols.

House Of Fraser closed in 2024 and is now a (rather lovely) M&S, so I really don't see them opening another one.

The HN building has a residential tower on top of it, and most of that side of the development has already been earmarked for residential and offices, so I would imagine it will go that way as well, if it does close.
 
They are keeping it a Harvey Nichols in London but I can't imagine how they are going to turn around its fortunes.
 
The House of Fraser in Manchester feels like the ghost of an idea, it just gives off the vibe of an end of the pier show, like it might shut at any moment. So can’t see this going well for HN
 
The only things I ever bought in ours was from the food hall, and that closed a year or two ago.

I do occasionally go in for a wander or a squirt of something expensive, and have never had the sense of anyone much actually spending money in the store.

I'm only really surprised it has last as long as it has here. I assumed that as it was something of a lynchpin of the new shopping area when it opened at the end of the 00s that they had negotiated some favourable rates to justify remaining open.

It's not a 'Bristol' store anyway. Had they wanted a southwest presence, Bath would make more sense. And they have loads more tourists.
 
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I think if you can't make Harvey Nicks work somewhere as vibrant and economically on the up as Leeds then probably your long term prospects as a business are poor.
 
As upthread they appointed administrators a few months ago and are now owned by him from Sports Direct. Clearly fucked.
 
We have a Flannels here and it's got a security guard on the door who eyes you up as whether you're worthy to enter (I saw someone rejected recently, but from a distance, so not sure why) and I went in once and there was no one in there except shop assistants staring at you to check you weren't up to anything.

I only went in to see if they had a pair of trainers in stock I wanted to see in real life, but I left as quickly as I could and won't be returning in a hurry. It was STRANGE.
 
We don't have a Flannels and I had no idea what sort of store it was when I first saw it somewhere else.

They have one in Plymouth though. Fuck knows how they make that work if it's £££.
 
There's an absolutely gorgeous Flannels in Liverpool. Moreso the building than anything in there I'd be interested in buying. Always empty, of course.
 
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