Popular Newcastle gastropub The Earl of Pitt Street ceased trading owing more than £1.4m, documents have shown.
The bar and restaurant suddenly closed its doors last month after more than 10 years of dishing up exciting food, wines and beers in a warm atmosphere, earning it the title of the best place to go for Sunday dinner in the city in a poll by sister site ChronicleLive. It had initially put up messages on its website saying it was “closed until further notice”, but owner Mark Lagun later confirmed the venue’s closure, highlighting a delayed Covid recovery amongst factors contributing to its demise.
Liquidators at Leonard Curtis have now been appointed to the firm behind the business, Electric East Ltd, and documents filed at companies house show it had total deficiency of £1.478m. The lion’s share of that sum – £1.2m – relates to the firm’s main shareholder, but around £177,514 is also owed to trade and expense creditors.
The documents include a list of creditors which include some food and drink suppliers, but the creditors which are owed significantly more include Lloyds Bank Commercial which is owed £34,949, Newcastle City Council, owed £10,542, British Gas Business which is owed £6,164, and HMRC which is owed £49,487. A business connected to the major shareholder, Pitt West End Ltd, is also owed £136,667.
When the pub closed, Mr Lagun – who previously ran eateries including Electric East, Barn Again and Barn Asia – said: “I am now officially able to state that The Earl of Pitt Street has closed after ten and a half years trading.
“Since Covid we never really recovered, and the planned 240+ houses on the land directly opposite us never materialised. Another peculiar anomaly was that we garnered such a massive reputation for our Sunday lunch, that it was the only days (other than match days) that anybody wanted to visit. A massive thank you to our team for their efforts, especially my front of house girls, who were one of the best teams I’d been part of in my 45 years in the industry.”
The closure of The Earl of Pitt Street has been followed by the loss of a number of other popular independent leisure operators, including Leila Lily’s, Riverside and the Hard Rock Cafe.
Elsewhere, bar and restaurant Horticulture and its sister venues El Guapo and Horticulture Coastal remain closed while the owner decides its future, and beloved speakeasy bar Prohibition, where Sam Fender famously gave a surprise performance in 2023, this week became the latest city centre site to announce its closure due to spiralling running costs.
Earlier this week council bosses pledged to “do all we can” to protect Newcastle city centre’s bar and restaurant scene in the wake of the high profile closures. A meeting is planned with city centre traders to help address the problems they are facing.
