THE debt-hit owners of Manchester's favourite Premiership footballer haunt The Living Room are set to go into administration.
Trafford firm Premium Bars & Restaurants was on the verge of a £50m sale to racecourse owners Reuben Brothers.
But the M.E.N understands that offer has been rejected after it was cut to about £42m.
Manchester business advisers BDO Stoy Hayward were poised to be appointed as administrators later on Tuesday.
The flagship bar on Deansgate will stay open along with most of the firm's 50 venues as experts try to save the company.
But Living Room bars in Chester and Glasgow are expected to be shut.
The firm also trades as Prohibition Bar & Grill and Bel and The Dragon. Prohibitions in Liverpool and Newcastle have both shut recently.
The group employs 3,000 people. Redundancies are expected among the chain's 25 staff at its Hale head office.
PBR bought the Living Room chain for £28m in 2007. United stars celebrated last season's Premiership title triumph at the Deansgate bar.
Shares were suspended in December when the group failed to publish its accounts as it sought fresh financing.
One source said: "It's still a premium brand and there are some very viable units but it has suffered during the recession as people have been going less and less.
"The administrators are likely to trade the business as they attempt to find a buyer and will be hopeful of succeeding."
One shareholder told the M.E.N: "It's a very good business and I am very angry about what has happened.
"There were several interested parties and it is annoying that no deal could be done."
Reuben Brothers has a string of interests in the leisure sector, including Criterion Asset Management, which runs the 850-strong Wellington Pub Company estate and Motcomb Estates, which operates hotels and other properties.
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Al Capone of Atherton, Atherton (04/08/2009 at 07:59)
dessie, manchester (04/08/2009 at 08:36)
Bigkecks (04/08/2009 at 08:38)
I once got turned away from there by a student with a clip board......
Couldnt have happened to a nicer place
joanne card, manchester (04/08/2009 at 09:35)
can't come in if you do this wear that or look like a certain way....
If you never let anyone in, who are you gonna sell your wares to.
for a place to feel exclusive is nice but to turn away customers for being "too casual" on a saturday afternoon is ridiculous..................................
joanne card, manchester (04/08/2009 at 09:56)
Puddycat (04/08/2009 at 09:59)
chillbill, oldham (04/08/2009 at 10:03)
Geraldino, Manchester (04/08/2009 at 10:17)
Jay B, oldham (04/08/2009 at 11:07)
glad this has happened really!
Guten Tag, Manchester (04/08/2009 at 11:11)
Billy the Fish! (04/08/2009 at 11:12)
I found it the most pretentious, overpriced and false establishment I have ever been in! I used to live in London and thought some of the places down there were pretentious but this place took the biscuit.
like one poster stated all the girls their were orange, clutching one G&T all night adorned with a fake designer handbag (you could tell because there shoes were cheap). Myself and few stayed for an hour then sloped off to 'Corbieres'. In Corbieres there were many in cheap shoes, tee shirts, jeans (but here it didn’t care and the people were welcomed) and the music was superb, the drinks were ok priced and we had a corking laugh with a group we didn’t know but shared a table with.
I don’t know how long Corbieres has been going but my elder sister used to in the early 80's, they must have a good business model for that appeals to the people of Manchester. One or two over paid footballers, orange women, Peter Stringfellow types and an entrance policy obviously contributes to a poor business model as they are out of business in a few years.
We the normal, honest down to earth Mancunions from the from the 'Peoples Republic of Manchester and Salford' have no time for this pretence!
Bring back our boozers, bring back the good pubs and long live the Marble Arch, Nags Head and Corbieres (not to mention many others).
Blue Dude, Manchester. (04/08/2009 at 11:31)
BECAUSE it does leave on average 6/8 waitresses and at least 4/6 chefs out of work per outlet who don't formulate the company policy, don't dictate the entrance policy nor design the brand image but do get paid £7 per hour to follow the instructions of the directors / company policy.
The student with the clip board (possibly £6 per hour) who turned Big Kecks away was probably faced with a corporate directive
a) Let someone in with facial tattoos, ripped jeans, pierced tongues, football top, croydon facelift, (or whatever they decide as not acceptable to reflect their brand). THEN
b) you can expect to get fired.
Lets face it he/she was earning 2 pints an hour so what do you expect make a stand, equal rights for all diners or do as he's told...
All those people who laugh at estate agents getting laid off forget the fact that's their job description is to be an professional a/hole since they work for the vendor to get the best price (more commission) and not the buyer who is to be consumed. The mood changes when you come to sell your house do you sell to the nicest person or the highest bidder. When the slump happened estate agents stopped (or reduced) advertising in the local press and as such advertising sales staff get laid off. I know two personally were shown the door at a local paper when two estate agents ceased trading.
Think globally people but drink locally...
The Right to Reply (04/08/2009 at 11:51)
smittyh, Blackley, Manchester (04/08/2009 at 11:52)
Immediately the doorman let all three of us in. Purely because our pretty friend arrived, which he made explicitly clear. We went in and discussed this for a moment. My female pal was a bit offended, we all realised we should never have thought to go there in the first place. So we left, went to a proper bar in the Northern Quarter, and never darkened the Living Room's doors again.
You reap what you sow.
Pushkin (04/08/2009 at 12:17)
Give me the Northern Quarter any day.
The Manc Man, Manchester (04/08/2009 at 12:44)
Sir Shaun of Bermuda, Manchester (04/08/2009 at 12:45)
Some years ago a small group of us were in there on a saturday afternoon and had spent somewhere in the region of £300 on wine when the doorman came over to explain that a 'dress code' kicked in at 4pm(ish) and we would have to leave as ONE of our group didn't fit in with 'the code'. What utter morons the management were/are.
Needless to say, we have all happily spent our money at the many other excellent venues in the city ever since.
Also, there was a bar in the Printworks once that refused me entry because I had a shaven head at the time and they've since gone into administration too. Refuse me at your peril Manchester ;)
Rachel, Bolton (04/08/2009 at 13:02)
Red Army (04/08/2009 at 13:12)
The Voice (04/08/2009 at 13:13)
Red Army (04/08/2009 at 13:15)
J. Peasmold Gruntfuttock, King of Peasmouldia (04/08/2009 at 13:23)
Vini Rosso (04/08/2009 at 13:38)
schgittor (04/08/2009 at 13:57)
But remember, Manchester City Centre is not for the Mancunian. Mainly the nightlife.
Billy the Fish! (04/08/2009 at 14:06)
"No sandles, no cheese cloth, your hair is too long and you have a beard, sorry Jesus your kind is not welcome here. However, that smart bloke with a nice black suit on with shiny boots and trimmed hair is welcome, come on in Adolf"!
:-)
makes you think eh?