Adrian tells of fear over loss of independents

Veteran hospitality entrepreneur Adrian McLaughlin has told LCN he has real fear that big corporate hospitality names will proliferate in Northern Ireland if the great independent businesses we have go to the wall.

Speaking to the Yearbook, the man behind the new Bank Square Townhouse said: “I fear for what Belfast could become. To give you one example, Tony O’Neill who owns Coppi and Buba, is an amazing guy and he and many others like him have set up amazing restaurants that can stand with any other in the UK and Belfast is all the better for it.

“However, who you take some of those guys and they maybe overstretch themselves at this time and the lights do go out I honestly do think those spaces will be filled with UK branded restaurants and that is not great because all the skill, ambition and entrepreneurship that is there will be lost.

“But let’s wait and see, these guys are fighters as well.”

And Adrian has a word of warning for all those trying to navigate their way through the latest crisis to hit the sector.

“Each business has its own circumstances to deal with. Some are cash rich and survive a downturn, some are still relying on bounceback loans that are keeping them afloat while they are trading at a loss every day with a diminishing cash pool,” he told LCN.

“If you are trading in a big volume environment where perhaps you are turning over £50,000 a week the chances are you will find enough profit out of that to keep you going, to keep the lights on and you can look at it as a lean period through which you hang tight and start planning for when the cycle turns your way, which inevitably it will.

“Other people will just have to say ‘right, turn the lights out, try to get out with some credibility and await a time with more opportunities’. Your skills have not been lost and your ambition hopefully is still there. You need to sit it out and wait for better times to come again.”

Read the full interview with Adrian HERE.