Nearly 600 jobs have been lost after The Revel Collective, the owner of Revolution Bars, Revolución de Cuba and Peach Pubs, entered administration and closed 21 venues with immediate effect.
The group confirmed on Tuesday that it had appointed Lindsay Hallam, Matthew Callaghan and Oliver Wright of FTI Consulting as joint administrators. In an announcement issued via the London Stock Exchange’s Regulatory News Service, the company said the appointments followed the steps it took a day earlier to begin the process formally.
Despite the closures, The Revel Collective said two sale transactions were completed immediately on appointment, with parts of the business sold to new owners in a move designed to keep a larger number of venues trading.
According to the company’s statement, Revolution, Revolución de Cuba and Founders & Co were sold to Neos Holdco Limited and certain subsidiaries “trading as Neos Hospitality”, while Peach pubs were sold to Coral Pub Company Acquisition Limited, which it said was founded by Ted Kennedy.
The company said the transactions “secure the continuation” of 41 venues in total and “protect 1,582 jobs across the sites and central support function”.
However, it added: “Regrettably 14 Revolution, six Revolucion de Cuba and one Peach site did not form part of the transaction and those sites are being closed with immediate effect impacting 591 employees.”
Which venues are closing, and where?
The company provided a list of the locations affected. Revolution sites named in the statement include Manchester (Oxford Road), Cardiff, Leeds, Sheffield, Nottingham, Glasgow (Renfield Street), Durham, Exeter and Preston, among others. It also named Revolución de Cuba sites including Cardiff, Liverpool and Aberdeen, and said the Peach site closing is The Almanack in Kenilworth.
For customers and staff, the immediate impact is likely to be practical as well as financial. Closures with “immediate effect” can mean cancelled bookings at short notice, uncertainty about outstanding vouchers, and redundancy processes beginning quickly for workers not transferring to the acquiring businesses.
What administration means in practice
Administration is a formal insolvency process used when a company cannot pay its debts and needs protection while its affairs are reorganised, sold, or wound down. In this case, the administrators completed what is commonly known as a “pre-pack” sale, where a deal is arranged before the administration begins and then executed immediately after the administrators are appointed.
Government material describing pre-packaged administrations frames the approach as a tool that can preserve businesses and jobs, while also attracting scrutiny because of the speed and limited transparency compared with a traditional trading administration.
In simple terms, a pre-pack can be used to keep the viable parts of a business operating while shedding loss-making sites or burdensome debts. That appears to be the logic behind The Revel Collective’s split, with the majority of venues continuing under new ownership and a smaller number closing outright.
The pressures hitting bars and pubs
The Revel Collective has faced difficult trading conditions for some time. Industry reporting on Tuesday said FTI pointed to “subdued consumer confidence”, particularly among younger customers, alongside rising operating costs including changes linked to employer National Insurance thresholds, minimum wage increases and spirits duty.
Those pressures have become a familiar pattern across hospitality: softer discretionary spending, higher wage bills, and continued cost increases across energy, supplies and rents. Even where venues remain busy on peak nights, profitability can be squeezed if fixed costs rise faster than revenues.
The company’s own announcement also confirmed that its previous “formal sale process” has now been terminated, and that it has ceased to be in an “offer period” under the Takeover Code.
Business rates politics in the background
The administration news also landed amid a wider political row about business rates and the future cost base for pubs and hospitality businesses from April.
A House of Commons Library briefing published this month warned that some pubs in England could face significantly higher business rates from April 2026 as a result of the business rates revaluation and the removal of covid-era relief.
The briefing notes that UKHospitality has said that, by 2027/28, an average pub’s rates could be “£4,500 higher than today” and by 2028/29 “£7,000 higher”, highlighting why the changes have sparked anxiety across the sector.
Media reports earlier this month suggested the government was considering additional support for pubs facing large increases, but the Commons Library noted that further detail had not been set out publicly at that stage.
Trade press has also described ongoing uncertainty around the detail and timing of any policy adjustment, with industry figures urging ministers to provide clarity for hospitality operators planning for the new financial year.
While business rates are only one factor for any individual operator, the wider policy climate matters for a sector where margins can be narrow and costs are often difficult to pass on to customers without reducing footfall.
What this means for staff, customers and creditors
For the 1,582 roles that are described as protected, the immediate question is how employment transfers will work under the new ownership. For the 591 affected by the closures, the immediate focus is likely to be redundancy pay, any unpaid wages, and the mechanics of how claims are handled when an employer is insolvent.
The government provides a route for employees to claim redundancy and other money they are owed if an employer cannot pay because it is insolvent. The rules include caps and eligibility criteria, and staff will often be guided by administrators on what to do next.
For customers, gift cards and vouchers can be a particular worry during insolvency. Consumer guidance notes that administrators may decide whether vouchers are honoured, and that outcomes can vary depending on the situation and any buyer’s approach.
The Revel Collective’s statement did not set out customer-facing advice on bookings or vouchers in the regulatory announcement itself. In many administrations, administrators or new owners publish venue-by-venue guidance shortly after the initial announcement.
What happens next
In the short term, the focus will be on stabilising the sites that have been sold and managing the closure process for those that were not included. Administration can move quickly at the start, especially where a pre-pack sale has already been completed, but there are often longer-running questions around creditors, lease obligations, and any remaining corporate structure.
For town centres and local high streets, the closure of multiple late-night venues in one week is also a reminder of how quickly hospitality landscapes can shift. Some sites may be re-let to new operators, while others could sit empty if rental values and footfall do not support another bar concept at current costs.
With parts of the business continuing under new ownership, the coming weeks will indicate whether the surviving estate can trade successfully against the same pressures that helped push the previous owner into distress: cautious consumer spending, rising staff costs, and an uncertain business rates outlook from April.
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