Lunya owners announces Manchester site will not reopen but ‘Manchester hasn’t seen the last of us’

The owners of Lunya have announced their Manchester restaurant, bar and deli will not reopen after five years of operation.

Peter and Elaine Kinsella, who run a small collection of Spanish restaurants, bars and delis in Manchester and Liverpool, said in a post on the website that the decision had been made to protect the brand's two sites in Liverpool, as they had been unsuccessful in securing additional funding to keep the Manchester restaurant open.

The post said: “Manchester is our most expensive site to operate and has the potential if we did reopen to rack up immediate losses, which would bring the whole company down and we cannot let this happen.

“Rest assured that our online, Liverpool and Albert Dock restaurants are safe (or as safe as anything can be at the moment) and will be reopening fully as soon as government rules allow and we are well advanced in our preparations for this and confident about our future.”

The post said the import-focused business had struggled with the additional challenges in recent years of declining consumer confidence, drop in euro exchange rate and increasing business rates, as well as general costs and overheads.

It added that Manchester staff will remain on the government's furlough scheme for as long as possible and would be supported in trying to find new jobs; and that if a smaller, more cost-effective site became available in Manchester in a few years, they could look to reopening in the city.

They added: “On a personal level, we are terribly sad and disappointed that this has come to this, and feel a real sense of failure in not keeping Manchester going. Anyone who knows us and the business will know we have thrown everything at it, are very proud, passionate and active owners and work every day in our restaurants. We have grown a fabulous restaurant, bar and deli in Manchester, we have made some great friendships and had some really good times working with our team and giving our customers the very best of Catalan and Spanish food.

“The memories of this and the positive impact we have made on the Manchester gastronomy scene, we will never lose. We have wonderful customers and hope through our online, local deliveries and other events we will still enjoy their support and serve them – just in a different way. It will be more ‘hasta pronto’ rather than ‘adios’. Manchester hasn’t seen the last of us.”

A heartfelt letter to the prime minister earlier this year by Peter Kinsella went viral, in which he opened up about the emotional pressures of being forced to close Lunya’s sites.

'It's OK to cry' – restaurant and deli operator reveals emotional pressures of being forced to close sites >>