Former bar owner blames Paradise as firm faces collapse
THE former owner of a row of Birmingham bars has gone into administration, blaming the long-standing Paradise roadworks.
Financial services firm Begbies Traynor was appointed to Town And Country Inns which used to run Mechu, Apres and Fleet Street Kitchen in Summer Row along with sister venues in Cheltenham and Sutton Coldfield.
Town And Country co-owner Mark Jones said the £500 million Paradise project, which has involved major roadworks on the Parade parallel to Summer Row, had badly affected trade, causing it to slip into administration.
Mr Jones and co-owner Nigel Owen have now left the business, which has been trading in Birmingham for almost four decades, with new independent operators taking over. All the bars continue to trade as normal.
Mr Jones said: “In a nutshell, the roadworks have strangled the business. We have bars elsewhere but 70 per cent of our business comes from Summer Row.
“They are not due to complete until next year and we just can’t survive that.
“It’s such a shame as we’ve been trading in Birmingham for around 38 years and have been on Summer Row for 15 years. If it weren’t for the roadworks, we would still be there.
“A new company with new directors have come in to take over. They’re independent operators from outside of the city.”
The Paradise project will eventually see eight new office buildings and a hotel developed on land around Chamberlain Square and the redrawing of traffic flow around the old Paradise Circus island and contributory roads.
Work started on the roadworks in January 2015 and, while the new layout is taking shape near Summer Row, it is still unlikely to complete until well into 2017.
Mr Jones warned in February last year that trade was being affected by the project but then in July announced that new investors had come into the business and the group was planning to launch a private members’ club within Fleet Street Kitchen.
The leaseholds on the Apres bars in Solihull and Lichfield were then sold and reopened under the Australian-themed Walkabout brand just a few weeks later and in August the firm revamped and rebranded its Apres in Sutton Coldfield as a Fleet Street Kitchen.
The Paradise development is a joint venture between Birmingham City Council and the British Telecom Pension Scheme (BTPS), and managed by Hermes Real Estate Investment Management.
A spokesman said: “The development team met regularly with Town And Country Inns and provided as much assistance as possible. This included placing additional signage in a number of very visible locations around the city and on the site hoardings, to direct pedestrians and motorists to the various establishments run by Town And Country.
“Works were also re-scheduled to accommodate their needs, both around the busy Christmas period, during the summer and for the Euro football finals.
“However, the very nature of a complex development of this size and location means that there is inevitably some short-term disruption.”