The day the music sort of died: Nightclub giant Rekom calls in the administrators
Rekom UK, the country’s biggest nightclub owner, plans to call in administrators just three years after being rescued for a major restructuring that could see a number of venues permanently close.
The Danish-owned company said 2023 had been an “extremely difficult” year for the industry, with cost-of-living pressures and high prices hitting its core base of young adults and students.
Rekom’s UK business, which manages some three dozen clubs and 12 late-night bars across the country, was formerly known as Deltic Group and saved by the Danish nightclub group after collapsing into administration in late 2020 amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
It said on Monday that it had filed a “notice of intention” to draft in administrators for some of its brands, which chairman Peter Marks argued would give the firm “breathing space and protection” to develop a potential restructuring plan.
The firm said its costs had spiked, adding that it would have to “find an extra £2m in wages” after the government announced an increase in the minimum wage in November’s Autumn Statement
“This has led to us having to accept that the group cannot continue in its current structure,” Marks said.
“We still have a core of successful club and bar businesses, and our Nordic brands, Heidi’s Bier Bar in Birmingham and Cardiff and Proud Mary in Cardiff and Swansea have outperformed all expectations. But we must go through this restructure to be able to come out stronger for the future.”
He added: “For any venues that may not continue as part of Rekom UK, we will do our best to find new owners and save jobs.”
The Nordic division of Rekom is not affected, the group’s bosses said.