Polpo founder Richard Beatty acquired Soho and Chelsea sites out of administration

Polpo founder Richard Beatty acquired the group’s Soho (pictured) and Chelsea sites out of administration for approximately £30,000 with 40 jobs saved, documents filed with Companies House have revealed.

A statement of the administrator’s proposal details how, following the group’s company voluntary arrangement (CVA) last year, the impact of Covid-19 and government-enforced closure of Polpo's five sites resulted in the company being unable to meet its CVA obligations.

Director Richard Beatty concluded that it was no longer financially viable to reopen the group’s Covent Garden, Brighton or Farringdon restaurants and these were closed with staff made redundant and the company placed into administration. Edward Avery-Gee and Jonathan Avery-Gee of CG&Co were appointed joint administrators on 14 October.

The group, founded by Russell Norman and Richard Beatty, opened its first venue in London's Soho in September 2009 and grew to eight sites.

Although the group made £1m of savings at head office in the financial year to April 2018, it did not have sufficient funds to meet historic obligations to HMRC, and liabilities amounting to more than £4m saw it pursue a CVA.