Bar and restaurant operator Premium Bars and Restaurants (PBR) and its divisions have gone into administration after talks to sell the business to the Reuben Brothers, its main shareholder, failed.
PBR and its subsidiaries, The Living Room, Bel & The Dragon, Prohibition and the Ultimate Leisure chain of restaurants and bars, could have been sold in a £48m deal to the Reuben Brothers, who have a 32.5% stake.
BDO Stoy Hayward has been hired as administrator, and will close three PBR-operated venues - Advocate in Belfast, Rewind 31 in Newcastle, and Sea in Glasgow. The remaining 45 venues are to remain open while a buyer is sought.
The administrators are in discussion with several interested parties, and are confident that a sale will take place of the business, which was established in 1997 as the Ultimate Leisure Group.
Tim Bacon, the founder of The Living Room, is understood to be among the interested parties.
The company recorded a pre-tax loss of £21.4m last year, including £20.5m of one-off charges.
The business has been hit by the reduced spend of its target market in the recession, which usually has high disposable income.
