Michael O’Hare’s Man Behind the Curtain 'wound up voluntarily' due to £1m debt

The company behind the Man Behind the Curtain in Leeds, which traded as Psycho Sandbar, owed almost £1m when it entered liquidation last month.

Chef Michael O’Hare opened the Man Behind the Curtain restaurant in 2014 and it was awarded a Michelin star in 2015.

He relaunched the restaurant as Psycho Sandbar earlier this year in a bid to make the venue more accessiblt to guests, offering a “surf shack” feel.

However, it closed last month after seven months of trading. O’Hare said the decision was “very much based upon my exciting plans for the future” but admitted the closure was “reflective of the changing experience market we all live in”.

Newly-filed documents on Companies House revealed the business had an estimated total debt of £993,684.85.

Its largest single creditor is HMRC, which is owed almost £520,000, followed closely by Gary Neville’s Relentless Leisure Limited, which is owed nearly £370,000.

Relentless Leisure Limited was listed as a shareholder of the business, owning the same number of shares as O’Hare, though Neville’s termination of appointment as a director was signed on 24 September.

At the time of Psycho Sandbar’s relaunch, Neville had posted on his LinkedIn: “A few years ago I signed one of the most instinctive and incredible deals that I’ve ever done when I went into partnership with Michael O’Hare on the Man Behind The Curtain restaurant in Leeds.

“At the end of a meal I had at the restaurant, Michael presented me with the bill, but it wasn’t a normal bill, it was a bill that had a figure on it accompanied with a note that said this will give you 50% of the restaurant, and from that moment on I was the co-owner of a Michelin star restaurant in Leeds!”

An extraordinary resolution to wind up was signed by O’Hare last week, which said: “It has been proved to the satisfaction of this meeting that the Company cannot, by reason of its current and/or impending liabilities continue its business, and that it is advisable to wind up the same under an insolvent winding up procedure, and accordingly that the Company be wound up voluntarily.”

Voluntary liquidators from BV Corporate Recovery & Insolvency Services Limited were appointed on 30 October.