The Bay Restaurant Group is a hospitality company in the United Kingdom, specialising in restaurant and pub chains.

History

The company originates from three former companies: Yates's, SFI Group and the Laurel Pub Company.

Laurel Pub Company

The group has its origins in the Laurel Pub Company, which was owned by Robert and Vincent Tchenguiz, two Iranian businessmen. It originally owned the Hogshead pub chain. In May 2004, it sold 432 neighbourhood pubs for £654m to

Greene King Greene King is a British pub and brewing company founded in 1799, currently based in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk. The company also owns brands including Hungry Horse and Farmhouse Inns, as well as other pubs, restaurants and hotels. It was listed o ...

. Robert Tchenguiz's R20 bought the company for £151m in November 2004. In June 2005, it bought the Slug and Lettuce and Bar Med chains for £80m when the Surrey-based SFI Group

went into administration As a legal concept, administration is a procedure under the insolvency laws of a number of common law jurisdictions, similar to bankruptcy in the United States. It functions as a rescue mechanism for insolvent entities and allows them to carry on ...

. It also bought the

Yates's Yates's () is an English pub chain. It was founded as Yates's Wine Lodge in Oldham, Lancashire, by Peter and Simon Yates in 1884. History Yates is Britain's oldest pub chain. Its motto was ''moderation is true Temperance movement, temperan ...

chain for £202m, with many becoming Slug and Lettuce outlets. In February 2006, it sold the Forno Vivo and Santa Fe chains. In April 2007, it bought the La Tasca chain for £123m, but in 2011, La Tasca demerged into a standalone business under La Tasca Holdings Ltd.

Financial difficulties

On 27 March 2008, the Laurel Pub Company went into

administration Administration may refer to: Management of organizations * Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal: the process of dealing with or controlling things or people. ** Administrative assistant, traditionally known as a se ...

; this was thought to be due to high rents. R20, Robert Tchenguiz's company, with its 378 pubs, bought the company back via

pre-packaged insolvency Pre-packaged insolvency (a "pre-pack") is a kind of bankruptcy procedure, where a restructuring plan is agreed upon in advance of a company declaring its insolvency. In the United States pre-packs are often used in a Chapter 11 filing. In the Unit ...

, with most of the former company becoming the Bay Restaurant Group on 28 March 2008, financed by

Kaupthing Bank Kaupthing Bank (, ) was a major international Icelandic bank, headquartered in Reykjavík, Iceland. It was taken over by the Icelandic government during the 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis and the domestic Icelandic-based operations were ...

. In October 2008, Kaupthing collapsed during the Icelandic financial crisis. In February 2009, Tchenguiz was sued by the Kaupthing bank for an unpaid overdraft of £643m. He was relieved of his involvement with the company by the banks to which he owed debts through an

offshore company The term "offshore company" or "offshore corporation" is used in at least two distinct and different ways. An offshore company may be a reference to: * a company, group or sometimes a division thereof, which engages in offshoring business proce ...

called Oscatello based on the

British Virgin Islands The British Virgin Islands (BVI), officially the Virgin Islands, are a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean, to the east of Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Islands, US Virgin Islands and north-west ...

. On 27 July 2009, Bay Restaurant Group was bought by two banks,

Commerzbank The Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft (shortly known as Commerzbank AG or Commerzbank ) is a European Financial institution, banking institution headquartered in Frankfurt am Main, Hesse, Germany. It offers services to private and entrepreneurial c ...

of Germany, and

of Iceland, in a move to recoup debts from him. That was done via a debt-for-equity swap, where Kaupthing became the major shareholder, and the company's debt was reduced by around £150m. In May 2010, Bay Restaurant Group was put up for sale, with Tragus Ltd a potential buyer, for around £70m. In September 2010, it sold Ha Ha Bar and Grill (22 pubs) to

Mitchells & Butlers Mitchells & Butlers plc (also referred to as "M&B") runs circa 1,784 managed pubs, bars and restaurants throughout the United Kingdom. The company's headquarters are in Birmingham, England. The company is listed on the London Stock Exchange an ...

for £19.5m, which saw the disappearance of the brand, with 12 becoming All Bar One. Hogshead and Yates's are now owned by the Town & City Pub Company, which is based in the same building as the Bay Restaurant Group. This company was established on the same day Tchenguiz, and is the other part of the former Laurel Pub Company, and also owned by Kaupthing. The Town & City Pub Company bought the Slug and Lettuce chain (82 pubs) in February 2010 so it is still based in the same building.

Structure

The headquarters i
situated
in the south of Luton off the dual-carriageway ''Airport Way'' ( A1081), close to junction 10a of the M1 and

Luton Airport Parkway railway station Luton Airport Parkway station is on the Midland Main Line in England, serving south Luton and Luton Airport in Bedfordshire. The station is situated in Luton's Park Town, Luton, Park Town district, being from St Pancras railway station, London ...

, opposite Lower Kidney Wood near

Luton Hoo Luton Hoo is an English country house and estate near Luton in Bedfordshire and Harpenden in Hertfordshire. Most of the estate lies within the civil parish of Hyde, Bedfordshire. The Saxon word Hoo means the spur of a hill, and is more comm ...

References

{{reflist

External links

La Tasca
Catering and food service companies of the United Kingdom Companies based in Luton Pub chains Restaurants established in 2008 Restaurant chains in the United Kingdom Stonegate Pub Company