A New Report has Found that 15 Restaurants are Closing Every Week- but More Are Opening

A report has shown that 15 restaurants are closing in the UK every week, but London is continuing to defy by experiencing more openings than ever. The UK has lost hundreds of restaurants in the last year alone, but it’s not that black and white. The report stresses that the long-term story is actually showing significant growth at the same time. The amount of restaurants in the UK has risen by 1,300 since the year 2014 and even though there has been a decline over the last few years, that’s not to say that it is going to last and that the catering industry is going to collapse.  The report reflects the closures across the UK, and it shows that it’s increasing, but the main thing that you have to remember here is that a lot of them are chains. So when one restaurant provider shuts down, this might translate to 50 restaurants across the UK.

Restaurants that have Closed

When you look at the restaurants that have closed, you will see that some of them include Byron Burger, Prezzo, Carluccio’s, Gaucho and Jamie Oliver’s restaurant group.

A lot of this comes down to expanding too rapidly, lack of footfall and uncertainty with Brexit. London is fuelling the trend when it comes to restaurants closing, but that being said, it’s also showing signs of significant growth.

There are major openings planned and there’s an annual increase. Even though restaurants are closing down, more are planning to open so this really does help to tip the scale. It also shows that the restaurant industry is actually growing, even though it’s experiencing a fast increase in closures.

Openings

Gavin and Catherine Hanly, who are editors of the Hot Dinners Restaurant have stated that there’s been a remarkable level of resilience with the London scene and that empty premises are being snatched up by new ventures with ease. They also said that Jamie Oliver’s Barbecoa near St. Pauls closed down in May and that the space has already been taken down by Richard Caring’s own Caprice Holdings. This is a branch of Ivy Asia. Closed restaurant sites that are being abandoned are actually being used for pop-up ventures and this includes Crab Anatomy. This is a specialist venture that is being taken over by a MasterChef finalist. He is taking over the space which housed the Thai restaurant, known as Suda.

September onwards always seems to see a huge increase in restaurant openings and this year really is no exception. At this stage it really is close to being on par with the previous year. Sure, there have been a lot of closures but at the end of the day, there have also been a lot of openings as well.

Of course, only time will tell what the future holds but right now, things are looking positive and the UK restaurant scene is booming.