Ryan Giggs’ restaurant has been closed with immediate effect after amassing six-figure debts, it has emerged.
George’s Dining Room and Bar, located along the Barton Road in Worsley, was opened by the former Reds star and two old schoolmates back in 2014, but shut at the end of January.
Customers had been left confused by the abrupt closure as they arrived at the restaurant only to be met by a sign on the door which stated it was shut ‘due to unforeseen circumstances’. The venue never reopened.
The Sun reports the restaurant has gone bust with debts of £563,600. Earlier this month the company set up by Giggs and his school friends, Kelvin Gregory and Bernie Taylor, to run the business was liquidated.
Customers had initially been told George’s would be closed for an entire weekend, but texts that had earlier been sent to staff when the restaurant shut contradicted this.
In the messages, staff were told that management ‘regret to announce that with a heavy heart we have no alternative but to close George’s effective immediately’.
George’s Dining Room and Bar, located along the Barton Road in Worsley, was opened by Ryan Giggs in 2014
The notice which appeared outside the restaurant in February informing customers the venue was shut
Giggs pictured with school friends and co-owners Kelvin Gregory and Bernie Taylor at the opening of George’s in 2014
It went on to say: ‘This is due to the obvious reduction in trade and business against the huge increases in costs of operating the business and the ongoing cost of living crisis’.
Bewildered employees have also said that they were told they would be paid outstanding wages in ‘due course’ as well as a notice payment, and for ‘those to whom it applies a redundancy payment’.
One staff member, who asked not to be named, said: ‘It came totally out of the blue, we were all supposed to be working today and then we got the text messages through, we are all stunned’.
Former Man United star Giggs had realised a lifelong dream opening the restaurant along with his old school pals Gregory and Taylor on their home turf back in 2014, and at the time expressed their desire to make Worsley into a ‘foodie destination’.
At its opening, Giggs told media: ‘We’ve known each other for 30 years and we always said it would be great to do something like this together.
‘We’re all local lads and have lived in this area all our lives so we wanted to do something in Worsley and we think we’ve got a really different offering for the area.’
The launch event for the restaurant was attended by a host of Giggs’ former United team-mates including Bryan Robson, Nicky Butt and Gary Neville. The restaurant became a hotspot in Worsley, and the following year the team launched a new terrace at the venue.
Since launching George’s, Giggs has expanded his portfolio in the hospitality world, teaming up with former team-mate Neville on the GG Hospitality Group which launched Hotel Football at Old Trafford, and then the Stock Exchange Hotel in the city centre.
Giggs is a co-owner and director of football at League Two club Salford City, and has previously been assistant manager
The League Two side are known for being owned by the Class of 92 (pictured together in 2016)
Cafe Football in Stratford, East London, closed after it opened half a mile from West Ham United’s stadium back in 2019
However, not all of Giggs’ and Neville’s joint business ventures have worked out, with their London restaurant Cafe Football also closing its doors in 2019.
The restaurant sat less than half a mile from West Ham United’s Olympic Stadium but punters bemoaned the eatery as too expensive for food that was ‘just like McDonalds’.
The pair are also co-owners of League Two football club Salford City, who have been entrenched in the fourth tier of English football for six seasons now and are being run at a staggering loss of £70k per week.
The closure of George’s Dining Room and Bar comes at a time of great worry for the hospitality industry.
Last Autumn’s Labour budget was met with vociferous anger by many restauranteurs and publicans, who argued that hiking both the minimum wage and national insurance contributions would leave many in the industry on the edge of financial ruin.
A survey conducted late last year by accountancy firm Price Bailey found that restaurant closures are already occurring at their highest rate in over a decade.
A total of 1,409 ceased operations in the year ending September 2024, a spike of almost 20 per cent on the previous year.
The shift in attitudes amongst Gen Z has also reportedly resulted in reduced trade for the hospitality sector, particularly bars and clubs.
Moving away from binge drinking and nights out in clubs, many younger people are now embracing a healthier lifestyle, a fact borne out by statistics which show that the number of 24 hour gyms in London soared past the number of 24 hours pubs last year.
There are now as many as 300 24 hour gyms in the capital, with less than 60 pubs now holding 24 hour licences.
