One of the north’s leading cocktail bars has closed suddenly after its owners went into administration.
The award-winning Popolo (pictured) in Newcastle upon Tyne has been shut, making 21 staff redundant, after joint administrators Lee Pryor and Julie Swan, partners of insolvency firm PCR, were appointed to Popolo Leisure.
Popolo in Sheffield and the company’s restaurant San Lorenzo in Gosforth, Newcastle, have been saved, protecting 46 staff across both sites, after they were sold to an unnamed buyer.
Lee said: “It is always difficult closing down an operation and making redundancies. We are, however, pleased to have secured the employment of the 46 staff associated with the businesses in Gosforth and Sheffield.”
Popolo in Newcastle opened 11 years ago in Pilgrim Street and has been home to some of the UK’s best bartenders, including Tom Walker who has gone on to work at The American Bar at The Savoy on London and win this year’s Bacardi Legacy UK competition.
According to Popolo Newcastle’s Facebook page, members of the team hope to reopen the bar in a new location, saying: “Popolo will re-open its doors, somewhere close, sometime soon.”
Popolo Leisure was formed two years ago to run five bars that were formerly part of operator Principle Leisure (North East) which went into administration in 2011.
The portfolio also included Ristorante Fiume and River Bar in Washington, Tyne & Wear, which is now owned by hotel, bar and restaurant operator The Cairn Group.
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