RISKY BUSINESS
Is Revolution closing down? Full list of bars at risk of shutting
Watch our video to find out why pubs and bars are closing
REVOLUTION has been a staple of the British high street for decades and a go-to destination for food and drink.
The bar group, which owns Revolution Bars as well as chains including Peach Pubs and Revolución de Cuba, has announced plans to close 25 locations.
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It follows approval in the High Court for a restructuring plan and means it will avoid insolvency after struggling since the pandemic.
Here's everything you need to know.
Is Revolution closing down?
Revolution Bar Group has announced the closure of 25 bars across the UK following approval in the High Court for a restructuring plan.
After the overhaul is completed, the company said it will operate 65 venues.
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This will consist of 27 Revolution Bars, 15 Revolucion de Cuba bars, 22 Peach Pubs and one Founders & Co site.
This means the bar chain will not disappear from the high street completley.
The locations affected have not yet been revealed, but it will affect loss-making bars.
The company has fallen on hard times in recent years, as the cost of living crisis and young Brits drinking less has damaged sales.
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The boozer needed the court to sanction its overhaul which it hopes will restore its finances after a difficult few years following the pandemic.
It is hoped that the High Court ruling will draw a line under a difficult few months for the business.
All the chains we've loved and lost in recent years
This is not the fist time the brand has shuttered pubs.
In 2020, the bar chain announced plans to shutter six sites as it struggled to keep afloat during the coronavirus pandemic.
More recently in July, Revolution Bars Group revealed to The Sun it would shutter 11 locations on August 11 as part of a major overhaul.
Why is Revolution closing down bars?
The group revealed it was dealing with the cost of living hitting customers' finances and train strikes affecting its younger clientele.
The bar and pub chain also said it was struggling following pressures caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, rising inflation and staff shortages.
In January, the bar group said it would close eight of its boozers and blamed younger customers spending less than they used to.
The chain also recently said it would have to "significantly reduce expenditure" and put back all refurbishments despite its "best festive period since 2019".
Why are retailers closing shops?
EMPTY shops have become an eyesore on many British high streets and are often symbolic of a town centre’s decline.
The Sun's business editor Ashley Armstrong explains why so many retailers are shutting their doors.
In many cases, retailers are shutting stores because they are no longer the money-makers they once were because of the rise of online shopping.
Falling store sales and rising staff costs have made it even more expensive for shops to stay open. In some cases, retailers are shutting a store and reopening a new shop at the other end of a high street to reflect how a town has changed.
The problem is that when a big shop closes, footfall falls across the local high street, which puts more shops at risk of closing.
Retail parks are increasingly popular with shoppers, who want to be able to get easy, free parking at a time when local councils have hiked parking charges in towns.
Many retailers including Next and Marks & Spencer have been shutting stores on the high street and taking bigger stores in better-performing retail parks instead.
Boss Stuart Machin recently said that when it relocated a tired store in Chesterfield to a new big store in a retail park half a mile away, its sales in the area rose by 103 per cent.
In some cases, stores have been shut when a retailer goes bust, as in the case of Wilko, Debenhams Topshop, Dorothy Perkins and Paperchase to name a few.
What’s increasingly common is when a chain goes bust a rival retailer or private equity firm snaps up the intellectual property rights so they can own the brand and sell it online.
They may go on to open a handful of stores if there is customer demand, but there are rarely ever as many stores or in the same places.
Which Revolution bars are closing down?
in July, Revolution Bars Group revealed to The Sun it would shutter 11 locations on August 11 as part of a major overhaul.
This is the full list of 11 locations which are confirmed to close on August 11:
- Blackpool
- Chester
- Deansgate Locks, Manchester
- Edinburgh, Scotland
- Inverness, Scotland
- Leadenhall
- Loughborough
- Norwich
- Hockley, Nottingham
- Stafford
- King Street, Wigan
The group is yet to reveal the full list of bars earmarked for closure.
But here is a list of four of its brand name's bars which could close down.
Revolution
- Aberdeen
- Bath
- Blackpool
- Bournemouth
- Brighton
- Bristol
- Cambridge
- Cardiff
- Cheltenham
- Chester
- Durham
- Exeter
- Glasgow, Mitchell Street
- Glasgow, Renfield Street
- Huddersfield
- Inverness
- Ipswich
- Leeds, Call Lane
- Leeds, Electric Press
- Leicester
- Liverpool, Albert Dock
- London, Leadenhall
- Manchester, Deansgate Locks
- Manchester, Oxford Road
- Manchester, Parsonage Gardens
- Milton Keynes
- Newcastle-upon-Tyne
- Norwich
- Nottingham, Cornerhouse
- Nottingham, Hockley
- Plymouth
- Preston
- Sheffield
- Southampton
- Southend-on-Sea
- Stafford
- Torquay
- Wigan
- York
Revolución de Cuba
- Aberdeen
- Belfast
- Birmingham
- Cardiff
- Derby
- Glasgow
- Harrogate
- Leeds
- Liverpool
- Manchester
- Milton Keynes
- Newcastle
- Norwich
- Nottingham
- Reading
Founders and Co
- Swansea
Peach Pubs
- Leamington Spa, Warwick Street
- Leamington Spa, Southam Road
- Stratford-upon-Avon
- Warwick
- Kenilworth
- Edgbaston
- Maidenhead
- Cumnor
- Thame, Oxon
- Thame
- Witney
- Oxford
- Woburn
- Salford
- Bedford
- Radlett
- Hatching Green
- Brookmans Park
- Albury
- Leatherhead
- Eversley Cross
- Cranleigh
What else is happening in the hospitality industry?
Food and drink chains in general have been suffering in recent months as the cost of living has led to fewer people spending on eating out.
Businesses had been struggling to bounce back after the pandemic, only to be hit with soaring energy bills and inflation.
Multiple chains have been affected, resulting in big-name brands like Wetherspoons and Frankie & Benny's closing branches.
Some chains have not survived, Byron Burger fell into administration last year, with owners saying it would result in the loss of over 200 jobs.
Pizza giant, Papa Johns is shutting down 43 of its stores by next month.
Tasty, the owner of Wildwood, said it will shutter the sites as part of major restructuring plans.
The brand plans to close 20 loss-making restaurants after a “challenging” start to the year.
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Britain's biggest pub company, Stonegate, has raised fears about its survival as it races to plug its debts.
Stonegate owns 4,432 sites across the UK under the Slug & Lettuce, Be at One, Sports Bar & Grill brands and 350 traditional style pubs under its “Proper Pubs” banner.
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