St Leonards restaurant and cinema complex enters liquidation
Thu, 04 Jul 2024 | ADMINISTRATION
A restaurant, bar and cinema complex in St Leonards, East Sussex has gone into liquidation. The Sussex Exchange, located on Queensway, has been operating for close to 12 years, during which time it has seen significant expansion.
However, the site’s operating company, The Sussex Exchange Limited, reportedly fell into administration last year. At the time, the company owed around £260,000 in unpaid tax, as well as being in debt to numerous trade creditors and its landlord, Sea Change Sussex.
The landlord said at the time that the business had been significantly impacted by COVID-19 and agreed a repayment plan for the rent arrears while the company’s sole director and shareholder Elie Fakhoury sought a buyer. However, efforts to rescue the business failed, leading to it entering liquidation.
In a statement, a spokesperson for Sea Change Sussex said: “The operator of the Sussex Exchange restaurant and cinema, of which Sea Change Sussex is the landlord, has unfortunately gone into liquidation.”
“The operator found its trade was hit hard by the pandemic and Sea Change Sussex has, since then, been working with its management team to try to help it recover from that, agreeing a repayment plan for unpaid rent and allowing it to seek a buyer for the business.”
“But the operator has been unable to get the business back on track or find a buyer, so its director has declared it to be insolvent. The business is now in the hands of the liquidators.”
The spokesperson added that Sea Change was in contact with the liquidators to consider "the best options for the future of the facility".
In The Sussex Exchange Limited’s most recent accounts at Companies House, for the year to May 30 2022, its fixed assets were valued at slightly over £1 million and current assets at around £114,000. However, its significant debts at the time meant that its net liabilities amounted to close to £1.4 million.
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