The Petersham and La Goccia, both on Floral Court in Covent Garden, closed their doors on Sunday (16 February), according to The Telegraph, as did The Petersham Wine Bar & Deli on King Street.
It follows reports last month that the Boglione family, which owns the Petersham group, was set for crunch talks with Shaftesbury Capital over a rental dispute related to the Covent Garden restaurants.
The management team told The Telegraph the group had ‘struggled to reconcile revenues with fixed property costs and debts, business rates and recent increases in staff costs and the looming impact of the recent Budget’.
Company director Lara Boglione, eldest daughter of Francesco and Gael Boglione, who opened Petersham Nurseries in 2004, added that the decision was taken after months exploring options ‘in view of the significant cost challenges they have faced, in addition to legacy issues relating to the trading impact of Covid and Brexit’.
The closures do not relate to the wider Petersham Nurseries business, which also includes a garden nursery and lifestyle shop in Richmond.
Petersham UK Limited, which ran the Covent Garden restaurants, submitted High Court filings declaring its intention to appoint administrators, designed to give the company breathing space while attempting to negotiate lower rents.
According to its most recent accounts, the group faced a property bill of around £1.2m a year.
Jo Milner, a partner at Buchler Phillips, which is overseeing the closures, said: “This is clearly disappointing for La Goccia and The Petersham, which, in other circumstances, could once again be a stable business, in line with others in the Petersham Nurseries group.
“It’s a very difficult landscape: last year almost 3,500 hospitality businesses became insolvent against a background of tight consumer spending and growing staff costs as a result of the Budget.”
The Petersham and La Goccia were both launched by the Boglione family in 2018.