TGI Fridays: which restaurants are closing, full list of UK closures - as diner chain faces administration
A well-known high-street favourite is being reshaped with diners and staff left facing sudden change 🍔
- TGI Fridays has closed 16 UK restaurants with immediate effect after the business fell into administration
- Two Yorkshire branches, in Sheffield and Doncaster, are among the sites shut permanently
- The closures have resulted in 456 redundancies across the UK hospitality chain
- A rescue deal has saved 33 restaurants and protected more than 1,300 jobs nationwide
- Customers with bookings or gift cards at closed sites are being urged to check next steps
A popular American diner chain known for its loaded burgers, cocktails and big-energy dining rooms has pulled down the shutters on 16 UK restaurants.
TGI Fridays has confirmed the immediate closure of 16 sites (including two in Yorkshire), after the business operating its UK restaurants fell into administration.
The move has left hundreds of workers out of a job, and resulted in 456 redundancies, while diners in Sheffield and Doncaster are now saying goodbye to their local branches for good.
The closures come despite a last-minute rescue deal that will keep the majority of TGI Fridays restaurants trading.
Liberty Bar and Restaurant Group, which ran the chain’s UK operations, appointed administrators from Interpath Advisory earlier this week. The administrators then completed a so-called “pre-pack” sale of the business and its assets.
Under the deal, the brand has been sold to a subsidiary of Sugarloaf, the company behind the global TGI Fridays brand. That transaction has secured the future of 33 UK restaurants and protected 1,384 jobs, with those staff transferring to the new company.
But 16 sites were excluded from the sale and closed immediately, meaning staff at those locations were made redundant.
TGI Fridays has been a familiar sight on UK high streets and retail parks for decades, offering an American-style casual dining experience.
Like many hospitality chains, it has faced rising costs, weaker consumer spending and tough competition from rivals and independents.
Phil Broad, global president of TGI Fridays, said the rescue deal was the best available outcome, helping to preserve jobs and giving the brand “a strong platform for success and growth” in the UK.
Administrators also described the transaction as a “pivotal step” in stabilising the business. But for Yorkshire diners, the news is bittersweet, and while the brand will survive nationally, two local restaurants are among those lost.
Full list of TGI Fridays restaurants that have closed
- Aberdeen Beach, Scotland
- Ashton Under Lyne, Greater Manchester
- Bournemouth, Dorset
- Braintree, Essex
- Coventry, Warwickshire
- Crawley, West Sussex
- Doncaster, South Yorkshire
- Edinburgh, Scotland
- Nottingham, Nottinghamshire
- Reading, Berkshire
- Sheffield, South Yorkshire (Sheffield Road site)
- Staines, Surrey
- Stevenage, Hertfordshire
- Stratford, Greater London
- Telford, Shropshire
- Walsall, West Midlands
Customers with bookings at the closed sites are advised to contact the company directly, while gift card holders are being urged to check what this means for their balances as the chain restructures.