Liquidator appointed to four Thomas Read companies

The High Court has made orders winding up four companies in the Thomas Read group of pubs on grounds they have no reasonable prospect of survival.

Ms Justice Mary Finlay Geoghegan granted an application by Kieran McCarthy, examiner to the group, to appoint a liquidator -chartered accountant Anthony Weldon - to the four companies, Eatoncroft Limited, Jestdale Limited, Kadaran Limited and Topart Limited.

The companies are understood to operate The Life Bar, Irish Life Mall, Abbey Street, Dublin; Bodega in Dun Laoghaire and Thomas Read’s in Smithfield, Dublin.

The judge also extended court protection for the other nine companies in the group to March 6th to facilitate the finalisation of survival proposals for those companies.

All 13 companies, owned by Sharmane Ltd, the parent company of the Thomas Read Group, have combined debts of €26 million but most companies are trading profitably, the court has heard. The group employs more than 400 people.

The pub/restaurants in the group are: The Bailey, Duke Street; Searsons, Baggot Street; The Winding Stair, Ormond Quay; The Globe, South Great Georges Street; Rí Rá, South Great Georges Street; The Harbourmaster Bar, IFSC; Thomas Read, Parliament Street; Pravda, Liffey Street; Floridita, Abbey Street; Dawson Lounge, Dawson Street, Ron Black’s Dawson Street; Thomas Read, Smithfield; Lincoln Inn, Lincoln Place; Bodega, Dun Laoghaire and eight bars at Dublin Airport.

The judge previously heard that bids for the group have been advanced by a consortium, whose members were not identified, and by ACC Bank, the group’s largest creditor.