Gary Neville and MasterChef star forced to shut restaurant and put company into liquidation with £1m debt

GARY Neville’s Leeds restaurant has gone into liquidation with debts reported at £1 Million – including £519k owed in taxes.

His eatery called The Man Behind the Curtain was set-up in 2014 and run by chef Micheal O’Hare with Neville owning 50 percent via Relentless Leisure.

Sky Sports pundit Gary's company  owed £366,848 – according to a Statement of Affairs filed at Companies House.

Signed off by O’Hare last month it reports £9,500 in estimated assets for creditors, a director’s loan owed at £500,000 described as ‘uncertain’ for payback, with fixtures and fittings – worth £152,973 also having an ‘uncertain’ value.

Banks are reported as being owed £14,000, with HMRC’s debt comprising two bills £119,090 and £400,194.

The accounts for 2023 are overdue, those for 2022 reported a £187,000 profit and reserves at £105,938.

Despite the liquidation O’Hare is continuing to trade from the site as Psycho Sandbar.

Ex-England and Manchester United defender Neville posted this on LinkedIn seven months ago: “A few years ago I signed one of the most instinctive and incredible deals that I've ever done when I went into partnership with Michael O'Hare on “The Man Behind The Curtain” restaurant in Leeds.

"At the end of a meal I had at the restaurant, Michael presented me with the bill, but it wasn’t a normal bill, it was a bill that had a figure on it accompanied with a note that said this will give you 50% of the restaurant.

"From that moment on I was the co-owner of a Michelin star restaurant in Leeds!

"Fast forward to today and it's taken a brave and courageous decision for Michael to give up his Michelin star and open a new restaurant, Psycho Sandbar, that I went to earlier on in the week.

"It's a sensational restaurant with an unbelievable experience and a brilliant job from Michael and his team. If you ever get the chance to visit, I highly recommend it.”

Gary retired from professional football in 2011 and has gone on to build up a £100m empire.

Gary has been listed as a director of 56 businesses on Companies House – and while he has interests in media, hotels, pubs, restaurants and education, his most impressive work has been in property development. 

The footballer first got into property development in his early 20s and now has a chain of hotels and townhouses, as well as development projects. 

Among the most high-profile interests are Stock Exchange Hotel and Hotel Football, which between them hold £32million in property assets - almost a third of his corporate net wealth.

The star owns a 40 per cent share in the Stock Exchange development, which is close to Piccadilly Gardens, in Manchester, alongside former teammate Ryan Giggs - and he also co-runs the luxurious Hotel Football, which overlooks Old Trafford.

Last year, he co-founded the company St Michaels Propco 2, a joint venture with Betfred CEO Fred Done.

Its operations form part of the £400 million St Michael's project, a development on and around Deansgate Road, in Manchester city centre.

Earlier this year he joined Dragon's Den as an investor, alongside Deborah Meaden, Peter Jones, Touker Suleyman, Sara Davis, and Steven Bartlett.

Michael appeared on the 2016 series of Masterchef and since then has featured on cooking shows including the Great British Menu.