New Animate food and drink hall remains on track despite sister operator going bust

The Animate concourse along the side of the city’s Market Hall Pic: Blog Preston

A new food and drink hall within Preston’s new Animate complex remains on track despite one of the operators other ventures going bust.

Northern Lights Group say they remain committed to opening the Mad Giant Food Hall in Preston’s £45m entertainment complex which sees the eight-screen cinema and further restaurant openings this week.

Their statement comes as the outlet with the same name in Didsbury went into liquidation in early February following a dispute with the franchisee.

Joe Foster, managing director of Northern Lights Group, said: “Mad Giant Food Hall (Didsbury) Ltd was a franchised subsidiary of NLG, the multi brand bar and restaurant company, which opened a mini food hall in Didsbury.

“They became locked into a dispute with their franchisee over rent owing from the Covid lockdowns which resulted in them vacating the unit.

“None of the other companies operated by NLG are affected by the winding up of the Didsbury subsidiary.”

Mr Foster said he was ‘excited to open the Preston Food Hall following the success of their other businesses’.

The Didsbury venture had opened in December 2019 and Companies House showed the business was wound up on 3 February this year due to going into liquidation with debts of more than £600,000 according to the liquidation report.

The sole director of the Didsbury venture is listed as Steven Pilling – who is one of two directors of Northern Lights Group. He is described as ‘an experienced owner with one of the largest independent hospitality groups in the North West’ according to his LinkedIn profile.

The Preston food hall is due to see four independent small businesses operate food kiosks within the unit – with the Northern Lights group directly operating a cocktail bar.

The Mad Giant Preston is due to open in April this year and remains tight-lipped over what those food kiosks will be.

A spokesperson for Preston City Council told Blog Preston: “The winding up of the food hall in Didsbury doesn’t change our plans for Animate here in Preston and are looking forward to welcoming Mad Giant on to site to start their fit out in the coming weeks, as planned.”

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