Third boss at failed city restaurant receives ban
THE former boss of Belfast restaurant the Potted Hen has been banned from the boardroom for five years — after its original founders received the same sanction.
Liam McAtamney (41), from Ross Mill Avenue in Belfast, was a director of DCRNI, which ran the Potted Hen at St Anne’s Square. But the company went into liquidation two years ago with losses of over £300,000.
An action by the Department for the Economy has now led to Mr McAtamney giving an undertaking that he will not act as a company director over the next five years.
He accepted misconduct as a director including allowing direct debits to bounce and failing to pay around £166,800 in PAYE, income tax and VAT. He also accepted that he had failed to cooperate with the liquidator, and that he failed to file accounts
The former Potted Hen is now a Pizza Express restaurant.
In 2017 the venue’s founders, Catherine Mary Regan and Dermot John Regan, were banned as directors for eight years over their conduct at the helm of the restaurant.
Their company Oregano Belfast ran Oregano Restaurant in Newtownabbey as well as the Potted Hen. It went into liquidation in April 2014.
Ms Regan, of Ross Mill Avenue in Belfast, and Dermot John Regan, of Dungannon Road in Moy, Dungannon, were disqualified for misconduct including failure to pay £332,194 to the Crown. In total, the company owed around £365,000 when it went out of business.
They were also found to have failed to provide all company books and records to the liquidators and diverted company funds of £64,000 away from Oregano Belfast Ltd, using them instead for their partnership business.