UPMARKET pub chain Bar Room Bar has closed its Southampton branch after it collapsed due to cash flow difficulties.
The site in London Road, formerly Chambers, is one of three sites to close with a total loss of 50 jobs.
A remaining ten branches of the chain, which was set up in a high-profile £20m deal by a pair of Birmingham entrepreneurs, are being touted for sale by administrators.
In total, a further 200 jobs could be affected.
Nick Cropper, Ryan Grant and Anne O’Keefe of Zolfo Cooper were named as joint administrators of Bar Room Bar, and said the company had to be taken into administration because of “difficult market conditions”.
Bar Room Bar was founded in 2007 by Tony and Ross Saunders, who acquired the sites from the Orchid Pub Group, together with the brand name Bar Room Bar.
At the time of the acquisition Ross Saunders said the new business would undertake an “aggressive five year acquisition campaign”, backed by a war chest of around £4m, with the idea being to expand the portfolio to 40 or more sites by 2012.
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