THE UK’s biggest nightclub operator has announced 17 of its venues will close with immediate effect after plunging into administration.
Rekom UK, which owns brands including Atik and Pryzm, appointed administrators last week to carry out a review of its business.
Rekom UK, which owns brands including Atik and Pryzm is closing 17 venues
Today, it announced 17 of its venues will close while the remaining 24 “strongest performing” ones will remain open for now.
The nightclub operator said it had “made every effort” to redeploy affected staff to other parts of the business.
It added 1,000 jobs had been saved but that “some redundancies” would be possible.
Bosses moved to confirm the restructuing of Rekom does not affect its Nordic operations.
Peter Marks, Rekom UK’s chairman, continued: “We have informed all colleagues within the organisation of the unfortunate developments that have taken place over the last 18 days.
“This outcome follows an extremely difficult period for the late-night sector, thanks to the combination of the cost of living crisis hitting younger generations and students particularly hard, as well as the rising National Living Wage alongside increased business rates and costs of operating.
“Whilst we still recognise there are continued challenges facing the late-night sector, we can now look to the future with optimism.
“We are confident that this restructure gives Rekom UK a strong core estate that will continue to have a relevant and engaging business proposition in line with consumers’ changing social habits and behaviours.”
The full list of 17 venues which are closing with immediate effect is:
Basildon Unit 7
Birmingham PRYZM
Coventry Jumpin Jaks
Dartford ATIK
Exeter Unit 1
Kings Lynn Bar & Beyond
Leeds PRYZM
Nottingham PRYZM
Oldham Liquid & Envy
Plymouth PRYZM
Portsmouth PRYZM
Romford ATIK
Swansea Level 17
Watford PRYZM
Watford Steinbeck & Shaw
Windsor ATIK
Wrexham ATIK
Meanwhile, 24 sites will remain open and operating as normal for now. This is the full list of venues staying open is:
ATIK Hull
ATIK Oxford
ATIK Tamworth
ATIK & Vinyl Gloucester
Bar & Beyond Chelmsford
Bar & Beyond Norwich
Cameo Ashford
Cameo Eastbourne
Cameo & Myu Bournemouth
Circuit Cardiff
District Cardiff
Heidi’s Bier Bar – Birmingham
Heidi’s Bier Bar – Cardiff
Kuda York
Proud Mary – Cardiff
Proud Mary – Swansea
PRYZM Brighton
PRYZM Bristol
PRYZM Kingston
Steinbeck & Shaw Brighton
Steinbeck & Shaw Cardiff
Switch Southampton
The Terrace, Exeter
Vinyl Cambridge
It comes as the UK nightclub industry takes a hit, with a number of venues closing in recent years.
High energy costs have crippled businesses and soaring inflation has seen punters cutting back on nights out.
It has led to venues forced into closing sites to stay financially viable.
In December, Pryzym closed the doors on one of its nine venues, leaving revellers devastated.
The chain closed its branch in Plymouth, which had a 2,300 capacity.
Elsewhere, Britain’s oldest casino closed for the last time after 195 years in business.
And a popular Glasgow nightclub announced its shock closure in August.
Smaller venues have also been affected.
At the end of last year, the Moles music venue in Bath announced that it had closed after decades of hosting bands including Oasis and Radiohead.
Rekom had been run as Deltic Group before it collapsed into administration in late 2020.
It came following the heavy impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and was bought by Scandinavian nightclub operator Rekom.
Earlier in 2023, Mr Marks said he was “desperately concerned” about how the cost of living crisis was affecting students, who he claimed were socialising less due to price pressures.
What does going into administration mean?
When a company enters administration, all control is passed to an appointed administrator – who has to be a licensed insolvency practitioner.
Their goal is to leverage the company’s assets and business to repay creditors.
Once the administrator has taken over, a moratorium is placed around the company and stops all legal actions.
After the administrator takes over, there isn’t much that can be done to reverse the process.
The administrator will write to your creditors and Companies House to say they’ve been appointed.
They will try to stop the company being liquidated but if they can’t, the administrator will pay as much of a company’s debts as possible from the assets.
The administrator has eight weeks to write a statement explaining what they plan to do.
This must be sent to creditors, employees and Companies House and invite them to approve or amend the plans at a meeting.
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