HRH Group shuts Room restaurant in Manchester: HRH Group, which runs pubs, restaurants and hotels in and around Harrogate in Yorkshire, has shut its Manchester outpost, the prestigious Room Restaurant and Cocktail Bar, housed in a Victorian Gothic building in King Street. According to the Manchester Confidential website, staff did not learn that they had lost their jobs until they turned up to work. A former employee of the restaurant who, along with a number of colleagues, chose to leave the restaurant in recent months, told the website: “The Harrogate head office simply did not have a clue about the Manchester restaurant scene. When they did make a small refurb investment it just wasn’t enough to compete. The former general manager and the staff had been keeping that place going for years, without them the place would have failed ages ago. Once the manager was moved to Harrogate, it all went downhill and staff started jumping ship.” The restaurant, at the former premises of Manchester’s Reform Club, the city headquarters for the Liberal Party, was housed in the dining room of the club with its huge oak ceiling. After the closure of the club in 1988, it became the Reform restaurant, a hang-out for celebrities such as the Beckhams, Take That and the Spice Girls, before becoming The Hurricane bar and, later, Room. It was described as “one of the most spectacular restaurants in Manchester with its eclectic mix of antiques and retro furniture” and had room for up to 120 diners, with up to 80 at the bar.
Posted on: Mon, 19 Jan 2015 08:15:31 +0000
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