Fyne-ished - it’s closing in days

Business writer SEAFOOD chain Loch Fyne is to close its landmark Tyneside restaurant within days.

The upmarket restaurant, left, which grew out of an oyster-selling business in Scotland, first opened to great fanfare in a converted church on Gosforth High Street in Newcastle in 2006.

Now Loch Fyne Seafood & Grill – which has more than 20 restaurants around the UK – has confirmed it will trade for the last time next week.

A message on its website reads: “We are sorry to say that our Gosforth restaurant will be permanently closed from 8 July 2018 and we wanted to say thank you for being a loyal customer.

“We are aware that some of you may have placed bookings with us and we are sorry that we will be unable to deliver these for you. A member of the team will be in touch to resolve this.”

It is not known how many jobs will be lost but it is understood Loch Fyne owner’s Greene King is consulting with staff over opportunities to be deployed in other restaurants around the UK.

What will happen once Loch Fyne closes, however, is not clear as Greene King will not disclose its plans, despite having a number of years left on its tenancy agreement. The building is owned by Kane Property Group, which acquired it in 2013 with Loch Fyne as tenants over 25-year.

Confirmation of the Newcastle closure comes as Greene King, the brewer and pub operator e, is reported to have put the chain up for sale.

The company acquired the Loch Fyne chain in 2007 in a £68m deal but several branches have closed their doors in the last few months, including ones in Henley and Reading.

Greene King does not mention Loch Fyne in its annual results published yesterday, but did say it will now focus on four brands – The Greene King pub brand; its country pub brand Chef & Brewer; Farmhouse Inns, the out-oftown, food-led brand; and Hungry Horse.

It said all its other pub brands have either been replaced or “will be subsumed into these four brands”.

Whether that means the United Reformed Church building will be rebranded to a different Greene King restaurant has not been disclosed.

The firm said: “To continue investing in our estate, from time to time we have to make the difficult decision to close a restaurant. After much consideration, we have decided to close our Gosforth restaurant on Sunday 8 July. We would like to thank all our customers who visited over the years.”