Prescott and Conran ‘was in £14m debt’ during collapse

Restaurant group Prescott and Conran owed £14m to its creditors when it collapsed, recent documents from its administrators Duff and Phelps have revealed.

The chain fell into administration in June, resulting in the closure of its three remaining sites in London; Parabola in Kensington, Lutyens on Fleet Street and Albion in Clerkenwell.

Its French restaurant Les Deux Salons and Shoreditch outlet Albion also closed.

The filings show that each five of the company’s sites owed up to £100,000 to HMRC as well as its food and drinks suppliers, including recently rescued beverage firm Conviviality. The sites recorded a total of £345,319 in pre-tax losses for the five months to 31 May 2018.

At the time of the administration, Duff and Phelps said the restaurant trade was going through “a period of sustained change” leading the directors to make the “difficult decision” to exit its underperforming restaurants.

The group’s boutique hotel, the Boundary Project in Shoreditch, was bought out of administration by Sir Terence Conran for £500,000 and will continue to be run by the Conran family.