Bistrot Pierre restaurant in Preston to close after business bought out of administration

A prominent city centre restaurant will close after its parent company was bought out of administration.

French-themed restaurant Bistrot Pierre, located at the former Fishergate Baptist Church, will close after part of its business was purchased.

The move means that ten of the 18 Bistrot Pierre restaurants in the UK will continue with eight immediate closures – including Preston.

There will be 158 redundancies as a result of the eight closures, with the Southport restaurant also affected.

An email to customers sent today (7 March) reads: “It is with great sadness that we announce the closure of the Bistrot Pierre Preston restaurant.

“You may see further information in the media over the next few days and as a valued customer, we wanted you to hear it from us first.

“The national insurance and national minimum wage increases, announced in the Chancellors budget in October has sadly made Bistrot Pierre Preston no longer viable and therefore we have closed with immediate effect. The Bistrot Pierre brand is now under new ownership and will continue to operate in 10 locations.

“We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your support over the years.”

The business has reportedly struggled to return to profitability since the pandemic.

Nick White, chief executive of Bistrot Pierre, said: “We are delighted to have secured the future of the business and, with the backing of Cherry Equity Partners, now have a strong platform in place for future growth.

“At the same time, we are tremendously sad to see eight of our sites close. The impending increases in National Minimum Wage and National Insurance contributions will add hundreds of thousands of pounds to our costs, making our smaller locations simply unviable.

“We’d like to express our sincere thanks to our teams that have worked so hard to serve the fantastic customers that have visited these locations over the years.”

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