Bournemouth’s Revolution bar has closed its doors with immediate effect. An announcement made on social media on April 30 said: “We have loved shaking your cocktails and throwing unmissable parties over the years, but as of today, we’ll sadly be closing the doors of Revolution Bournemouth.
“We wanted to extend an enormous thank you for joining the revolution party over the years. Any guests with bookings will be contacted in due course thank you for your patience and understanding”.
The site appears to have been repossessed by the landlords with an enforcement notice currently displayed on the window.
In April Revolution Bars proposed a restructuring of the group, which, they announced would involve the shuttering of several sites, rent reductions, and an equity raise of up to £12.5m featuring new and existing investors, however Bournemouth was not expected to be one of the venues to close.
Revolution Bars said its restructuring plan would affect Revolution Bars Ltd and would see it exit the leases of 18 loss-making sites and impose a rent reduction on a further 14 sites, which the company said would enable it to return to profitability at a sustainable level.
It came despite the company reporting its best Christmas trading period since 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic hit, forcing bars across the country to close.
Chief executive Rob Pitcher previously said: “We have had the best festive trading period for four years with all of our brands recording positive like-for-like sales and Revolucion de Cuba being the standout performer.”
“However, our younger customers are still feeling the disproportionate effect of the cost-of-living crisis and the national living wage will increase materially in April 2024.
“Therefore, we have taken the difficult yet ultimately beneficial step for the group to close several bars which are unprofitable.”
He added: “Our teams do a terrific job in making guests welcome and giving them a great experience and again we have demonstrated that when our customer base can afford to do so, they are choosing to celebrate with us, and we have delivered record levels of guest satisfaction.
“This should bode well for the future.”
