Restaurant’s ex-owner bankrupt a year on
The owner of Duke Carvell’s has been made bankrupt almost a year to the day since he closed the doors on the once popular Wellington restaurant.
Michael Taylor Cole was declared bankrupt in the Wellington High Court yesterday, following an application by Kiwibank.
Kiwibank was a secured creditor of Duke Carvell’s PanEuropean Restaurant, which was put into liquidation in March 2016. The bank was the largest creditor. It was owed more than $300,000.
The bar and restaurant, near Cuba St, was formerly owned by brothers Leonardo and Lorenzo Bresolin, who sold it to Cole in July 2015.
In a report dated August 2016, liquidators’ of the company said Cole bought the business to ‘‘utilise his hospitality experience and because of his love of the Duke Carvell’s restaurant’’.
However, in the months following Cole’s takeover, turnover declined.
‘‘Despite attempts to cut staff costs and increase sales, the cashflow has not recovered sufficiently to enable the business to continue to trade,’’ the report said.
In order to recover costs, liquidators’ offered assets for sale.
Given the high profile of the restaurant and its prominent location, there were significant expressions of interest.
The landlord leased the Swan Lane premises to Noble Rot Wine Bar, with liquidators selling the remaining assets to the new tenant for $57,500.
Despite that, there was not enough money to cover debts owed to secured or preferential creditors.
Liquidators investigated whether to pursue Cole for the outstanding money, but concluded that there was no point.
‘‘In reality, the director had no personal wealth even if such a claim was successful.’’