Discretionary spending?

[Infrasonic]

I suppose that at least with the £/$ situation tourism should do better in the UK.

[CheGuevara]

I suppose that at least with the £/$ situation tourism should do better in the UK.

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yes - especially considering the great weather we have over here!

my 2 cents on factoring is that it is best avoided if possible - all you need is for the bank/financing co to reduce the lending rate, which tends to happen when things get tough, and you are literally screwed.

[rjs1]

i don't think factoring/invoice discounting etc is a 'good look' for a business, you end up giving away precious margin to advertise the fact your cashflow is sh*t and you're probably undercapitalised.

a few of our  suppliers used them when we had the pub, i expect they won't survive the downturn, if you can't get paid in the good times, what hope have you in the bad?

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Neals Yard Dairy have used factors for years, and I'd guess that they'll survive the downturn (hope so, anyway).

[rjs1]

Paying your small suppliers shouldalways be a priority.

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Like it or not, it's HMRC that's right up there at the front of the queue I'm afraid.

H

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Behind the banks, and of course at number one the insolvency practitioner.

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I'm a bit rusty on these things, but is it right that HMRC is still a preferential creditor? I thought that changed a few years ago.

Banks are only at the front of the queue because they tend to take a fixed & floating charge over all the assets of the company.

The insolvency practitoner gets paid because if he didn't there'd be no administration.

[tony h]

The Langham had only two other tables occupied last Friday lunchtime - a pretty miserable experience

[Infrasonic]

Paying your small suppliers shouldalways be a priority.

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Like it or not, it's HMRC that's right up there at the front of the queue I'm afraid.

H

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Behind the banks, and of course at number one the insolvency practitioner.

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I'm a bit rusty on these things, but is it right that HMRC is still a preferential creditor? I thought that changed a few years ago.

Banks are only at the front of the queue because they tend to take a fixed & floating charge over all the assets of the company.

The insolvency practitoner gets paid because if he didn't there'd be no administration.

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My angry at insolvency practitioners is the result of having been swindled out of a shareholding interest I held in a perfectly solvent business many years ago.

I'm always amazed at how their fees always equal the value of the assets left in a business...

I think you're right about HMRC.

Banks will ask for a PG if they think your Ltd. is a bit flaky. So you'll get hammered either way unless you take bankruptcy at the same time as insolvency and don't own any personal assets!

[howardlong]

I'm a bit rusty on these things, but is it right that HMRC is still a preferential creditor?  I thought that changed a few years ago.

Banks are only at the front of the queue because they tend to take a fixed & floating charge over all the assets of the company.

The insolvency practitoner gets paid because if he didn't there'd be no administration.

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Hmm, my bad it would seem. Looks like the Enterprise Act enacted in 2003 in trying to promote a rescue culture demoted the Crown from its previously privileged position to an unsecured creditor.

H

Edited October 28, 2008 by howardlong (log)

[malcolmwilliamson]

The chart at http://www.birminghamplus.com/inc/year_stats.asp gives graphical illustration of the dramatic downturn since August 2008 in the number of people seeking information on restaurants in the Birmingham area.

The lines plot the numbers of monthly site 'hits' on the Birmingham Post restaurant website pages (right hand y axis) from the site's 2002 start.

The bars plot the cumulative 'hits' over the course of each year (left hand y axis).

Edited October 29, 2008 by malcolmwilliamson (log)

[Infrasonic]

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/busi...icle5303399.ece

If you thought that the credit crunch would make it easier to get a table at some of the country's best-known restaurants, you'd be wrong. A ring-round of top restaurants shows that reserving a table for two at the weekend is still a challenge.

The most difficult place to secure a table was Heston Blumenthal's restaurant, The Fat Duck in Bray, Berkshire, where tables have to be reserved two months in advance. I was told that the lines opened at 10am; tables for a Friday or Saturday usually sold out within half an hour, but for midweek tables it “may be a little easier”. The next available table was on February 6. Almost as difficult to get into was Midsummer House in Cambridge. Here I was advised to book four to six weeks in advance for a Friday or a Saturday night, slightly less for midweek.

[Roger le goéland]

Yet I've managed to walk in and get a table at 6.30 or 7.30 at Yauatcha on Fridays and Saturdays, upstairs, for the past 2-3 months. It used to be "here, come back at 10.30pm and we'll give you this tiny little table in the corner". This is also true for most places visited.

I guess people make their nights out sparser and focus on the highest quality (perceived or real) for that occasional one.

[naebody]

Meanwhile:

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/busi...icle5303398.ece

It's no surprise to find that the places doing well are individualistic, like the bursary-funded Midsummer House and Heston's Disneyland for Sexless Fortysomethings. Likewise, the queues continue to snake around Wagamama.

It's the centre that cannot hold.

[dallardice]

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/busi...icle5303399.ece

Almost as difficult to get into was Midsummer House in Cambridge. Here I was advised to book four to six weeks in advance for a Friday or a Saturday night, slightly less for midweek.

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Hmmm... I'm going this Saturday. Booked on Nov 14. I make that three and I was given a choice of times...

[Infrasonic]

Another one bites the dust...

CELEBRATED chef Raymond Blanc has closed the doors of his Manchester city centre restaurant for good as 'le credit crunch' claimed its latest high profile victim.

I only ate there about four or five times, quite liked it food wise even if it was a bit corporate chain on the service front.

Not on this link but in the MEN paper there was something about Juniper not reopening after its winter "break"...

Edit; MEN link here...http://www.citylife.co.uk/restaurants/news...ems_at_juniper_

Edited February 5, 2009 by Infrasonic (log)

[Food Snob]

Harden's Article

More detail on Juniper in Hardens:

"Juniper – the Altrincham restaurant which was for a time the Manchester area’s most prominent – has shut up shop. The establishment was acquired last year by Swiss chef Michael Riemenschneider from Paul Kitching (who has relocated to Edinburgh).

Things have not gone well for Riemenschneider, who lost the Michelin star his restaurant in Cornwall had held in the 2009 edition of the tyre company’s guide. And the south western restaurant has apparently also now closed. For further background and information see Crain’s.

Back in Manchester, the Evening News reports that Brasserie Blanc – for many years a stalwart of the city-centre dining scene, and arguably the best representative of its group – has also closed.

For a critical analysis of the two north western closures, see Manchester Confidential. We expressed the hope in UK Restaurants 2009 that Riemenschneider, who is only 26, was not taking on too much. If the Manchester Confidential view is right, it seems that, sadly, he was: the economic environment may not have helped, but it is suggested that the main problems were more specific."

[malcolmwilliamson]

Just discovered this statement on the Thatched Cottage (Brockenhurst) website:

Due to the current financial climate we are not able to provide any elaborate Luncheons and are closed for Dinner - until further notice. (This is in effect from now except for Valentines weekend)

[nikkib]

Does anyone know what is happening with bar shu in Soho? It says it is closed for a refurb - always seems busy so hopefully thats all it is....

[Infrasonic]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7877289.stm

Celebrity chef Antony Worrall Thompson has had to shut four restaurants, leaving 60 of his staff redundant.

[Gary Marshall]

he only wanted £200k and the bank wanted security over his house?

perfectly normal, when i had the pub we had personal guarantees over everything so if he was that convinced they were going concerns he'd have done it, no suprise then that the bank weren't interested, another case of over-expansion me thinks.

i hope his suppliers got their cash, he took the entire supply of dexter beef filets and sirloins from a farm that supplied us (with the bits he hadn't taken.)

[david goodfellow]

he only wanted £200k and the bank wanted security over his house?

perfectly normal,  when i had the pub we had personal guarantees over everything so if he was that convinced they were going concerns he'd have done it, no suprise then that the bank weren't interested, another case of over-expansion me thinks.

i hope his suppliers got their cash, he took the entire supply of dexter beef filets and sirloins from a farm that supplied us (with the bits he hadn't taken.)

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Exactly correct Gary.If Wozza had complete faith in his business he would have put his house up.I did it years ago without hesitation, and it enabled me to expand almost unhindered.

I have heard that he is negotiating to buy 2/3 of those same restaurants,please correct me if I am wrong.You can now see a picture emerging of ripe "cherry picking".

[Gary Marshall]

doing a 'tom' as it might now be known.

[dougal]

The Press Association reports:

But 40 of {the 60 staff} are expected to get their jobs back after Antony managed to raise private support and use some of his own money to buy back two of the restaurants, in Windsor and Kew, and the shop.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/a...6uTdpvdxLBl9x9Q

So, have I got this straight?

He couldn't raise a £200k overdraft to keep the show on the road (being unprepared to risk his own capital/house), but he has somehow come up with enough "private support" and "some of his own money" to do the cherry-picking.

Isn't there an inconsistency there?

Always seemed such a nice chap too ...

[david goodfellow]

doing a 'tom' as it might now be known.

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It will be very interesting to see this story unfold.I just missed the morning BBC news

coverage no doubt it will be covered later in much detail.

Watch this space!

[nikkib]

am not surprised about notting grill had a truly terrible meal there just before xmas - frozen potted shrimp, chewy undercooked frozen squid etc etc

[david goodfellow]

The Press Association reports:

But 40 of {the 60 staff} are expected to get their jobs back after Antony managed to raise private support and use some of his own money to buy back two of the restaurants, in Windsor and Kew, and the shop.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/a...6uTdpvdxLBl9x9Q

So, have I got this straight?

He couldn't raise a £200k overdraft to keep the show on the road (being unprepared to risk his own capital/house), but he has somehow come up with enough "private support" and "some of his own money" to do the cherry-picking.

Isn't there an inconsistency there?

Always seemed such a nice chap too ...

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Exactly!I was prepared to utter the statement "Bankers are not stupid"however given the plight of the global economy and our miserable share of it I think this statement would raise howls of derision.

I would be interested in finding out how his suppliers have suffered over this debacle?

[david goodfellow]

doing a 'tom' as it might now be known.

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Ha Ha Gary good shout.This initially went over my head,I though it was "accountancy speak".For the others out there who missed it too, it refers to a certain Mr A-tkins.