Ex-Paramount boss buys second Livebait restaurant

SBG Restaurants, owned by Richard Muir and William Rollason, has added its second Livebait restaurant to its portfolio, having bought the Leeds site from in-administraiton Paramount Restaurant Group.

Muir and Rollason, former chairman of Paramount, made their first acquisition for their new company from Paramount in November last year, buying Livebait in Manchester.

The 65-cover Leeds site is in ‘The Calls' area of the city, and is within walking distance of the city centre.

The kitchen is managed by head chef John Wilkinson, who has been at Livebait for the past two years. He will be working closely with SBG's executive chef, Dave Spanner, on new menus and a relaunch of the restaurant in the spring. Spanner has previously worked in high-end establishments in Australia, France, the USA and the UK and was most recently chef de cuisine for the Seabourne cruise line.

The new menus will be introduced over the next few weeks and will focus on locally sourced fresh fish and shellfish. A new Champagne bar is also expected as part of the relaunch.

Muir said: "We're delighted to have acquired the Leeds Restaurant Livebait - Leeds has a really strong food culture and we will bring something a bit different to eating out in the city."

General manager Tom Darlison will be in charge of the day-to-day running of the restaurant.

Richard Muir buys Manchester seafood restaurant Livebait >>

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By Neil Gerrard

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