Almost 600 jobs lost but many saved as Revolution owner enters administration

Almost 1,600 jobs have been saved and a further 600 lost after the owner of Revolution bars went into administration.

The Revel Collective, which revealed on Monday that it had filed notice of an intention to appoint administrators, said it had since formally appointed FTI Consulting.

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"Immediately on appointment, the Administrators completed two sale transactions for the business and assets of the Group: (i) a sale of Revolution, Revolucion de Cuba and Founders & Co to Neos Holdco Limited and certain of its subsidiaries, trading as Neos Hospitality and (ii) a sale of Peach pubs to Coral Pub Company Acquisition Limited, founded by Ted Kennedy", a statement said.

"The transactions secure the continuation of 20 Revolution, Revolucion de Cuba and Founders & Co bars and 21 Peach pubs and protect 1,582 jobs across the sites and central support function.

"Regrettably 14 Revolution, six Revolucion de Cuba and one Peach site did not form part of the transaction and those sites are being closed with immediate effect impacting 591 employees."

The locations of these Revolution sites are: Manchester (Oxford Road), Huddersfield, Leicester, Glasgow (Renfield Street), Cardiff, Nottingham, Leeds, Sheffield, Ipswich, Manchester (Parsonage Gardens), Plymouth, Durham, Exeter and Preston.

The Revolucion de Cuba sites affected are: Cardiff, Derby, Liverpool, Reading, Harrogate and Aberdeen while the Peach premises to be shut was The Almanack at Kenilworth in Warwickshire.

The announcement was made shortly before the chancellor was expected to reveal a partial U-turn on business rates changes facing pubs.

The industry said they were expected to add almost £13,000 in costs over three years to the average pub in advance of the climbdown.

It has battled rising costs for many years, with new minimum pay levels and heightened national insurance contributions adding to the burden last spring.

Revel undertook a major restructuring in 2024, shutting 15 unprofitable bars in a bid to turn around its performance.

But the revamp fell flat and a strategic review resulted in the group being placed up for sale.

Revel had partly blamed weak trading, with younger customers having little disposable income. Higher costs also weighed on its bottom line and growing debt pile.

(c) Sky News 2026: Almost 600 jobs lost but many saved as Revolution owner enters administration