300 jobs lost as 37 branches of Spudulike shut

BAKED potato chain Spudulike has closed all of its 37 branches without warning – resulting in the loss of almost 300 jobs.

The 5-year-old chain, the popularity of which in the 1980s and 90s was signalled when Harry Enfield and Kathy Burke comic creations Wayne and Waynetta Slob named their second child Spudulika, had been struggling to pay rising rents and business rates.

It attempted to restructure last month, going to landlords to negotiate rent cuts, but fell into administration after failing to secure their backing.

An email sent to staff said the business had been ‘under financial pressure’ for some time and management had ‘been exploring various options to try and preserve all, or part, of the business’.

But its branches across the country, from Dundee to Plymouth, closed with no warning late last week.

A number of workers were reportedly owed two weeks’ wages, with some waiting for more than £500 in back pay.

John Garfield Roberts tweeted on Saturday: ‘So my niece goes into work this morning to find she’s out of a job... and the business can’t pay any wages.

Neil Bennett, of administrator Leonard Curtis, said: ‘Sadly, a sale of the business and assets... did not prove possible.’