The Greater Manchester owner of the Revolution Bar chain, formerly one of the UK’s most successful hospitality brands, has shut 21 venues with the loss of 591 jobs with immediate effect after the company fell into administration.
The Revel Collective, which started as a single bar in Ashton-under-Lyne, where it remains headquartered, operated the Revolution vodka bar chain as well as Revolucion de Cuba, with a revolutionary rum focus instead, and Peach Pubs.
It put itself up for sale in October after facing what it called “a continued period of external challenges.”
Of its 62 pubs and bars across the UK, 14 Revolution bars, six Revolucion de Cuba bars and one Peach Pub are closing immediately.
FTI Consulting, brought in as administrators, also announced two deals which it said would secure the future of 41 sites and 1,582 jobs.
FTI said the Revolution and Revolucion de Cuba brands and assets had been bought by the bar and club owner Neos Hospitality Group.
The remaining Peach Pubs business has been bought by the new Coral Pub Company.
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The bars closing with immediate effect are:
Revolution:
Cardiff – Wales
Durham – County Durham
Exeter – Devon
Glasgow, Renfield St – Scotland
Huddersfield – West Yorkshire
Ipswich – Suffolk
Leeds Electric Press – West Yorkshire
Leicester – Leicestershire
Manchester, Oxford Road – Greater Manchester
Manchester, Parsonage Gardens – Greater Manchester
Nottingham Cornerhouse – Nottinghamshire
Plymouth – Devon
Preston – Lancashire
Sheffield – South Yorkshire
Revolucion de Cuba:
Aberdeen – Aberdeenshire, Scotland
Cardiff – Wales
Derby – Derbyshire
Harrogate – North Yorkshire
Liverpool – Merseyside
Reading – Berkshire
Peach Pubs:
The Almanack, Kenilworth – Warwickshire
The Revel Collective had said on Monday that discussions with a buyer were “well advanced” but it had filed to enter administration, with shareholders in the company to be left with nothing after the sale.
When it put itself up for sale last autumn, Revel Collective blamed “challenging economic conditions” and decisions taken by Chancellor Rachel Reeves in Labour’s first Budget after coming to power in 2024.
Revel Collective also criticised Labour’s decision to increase duties on spirits, which it said will cost more than £4m each year across the group.
Also today, Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced that pubs and music venues in England would be given a 15% discount on their business rates bills from April, followed by a freezing of rates for the next two years. The reprieve came too late for Revolution and co, however.
