Andrew and Lisa Radford close Atrium and Blue

08 February 2011 by
Andrew and Lisa Radford close Atrium and Blue

Double Catey-winning restaurateurs Andrew and Lisa Radford have been forced to close their Edinburgh restaurants, the Atrium and Blue.

Radford told Caterer that ongoing building work at neighbouring concert venue Usher Hall had contributed to the restaurants' closure.

But Radford was keen to stress that a "catalogue" of events - including the recession, the ash cloud, the country's recent bad weather and the reduction of people working in the building in which the two restaurants were housed - had played a major part in their decline.

"We knew this has been coming for the past year," said Radford, who launched the Atrium with his former partner, the late James Sankey, 18 years ago and former Caterer Adopted Business Blue, a 100-seat café-bar, in 1997. "It has taken us a few weeks to put things in place and we had a very emotional meeting with the staff last Friday. Twenty jobs have been lost.

"Looking to the future, we will be back," said Radford, who won the Newcomer Award at the 1994 Cateys and the Independent Restaurateur of the Year Catey in 2000. "Lisa and I will return to Edinburgh to offer good food and good hospitality once we have created a new concept."

According to a report in The Scotsman, the Atrium is the latest in a series of upmarket Edinburgh restaurants to close in recent months. Others include Abstract in Castle Terrace, Bella Mbriana in East London Street, Jackson's on the Royal Mile, and Roti in Morrison Street.

By Amanda Afiya

E-mail your comments to Amanda Afiyax here.

If you have something to say on this story or anything else join the debate at Table Talk - Caterer's new networking forum. Go to www.caterersearch.com/tabletalk

Caterersearch.com jobs

Looking for a new job? Find your next job here with Caterersearch.com jobs

[Newsletters For the latest hospitality news, sign up for our e-mail newsletters.
The Caterer Breakfast Briefing Email

Start the working day with The Caterer’s free breakfast briefing email

Sign Up and manage your preferences below

Check mark icon
Thank you

You have successfully signed up for the Caterer Breakfast Briefing Email and will hear from us soon!

Jacobs Media is honoured to be the recipient of the 2020 Queen's Award for Enterprise.

The highest official awards for UK businesses since being established by royal warrant in 1965. Read more.

close

Ad Blocker detected

We have noticed you are using an adblocker and – although we support freedom of choice – we would like to ask you to enable ads on our site. They are an important revenue source which supports free access of our website's content, especially during the COVID-19 crisis.

trade tracker pixel tracking