Cafe chain Le Pain Quotidien closes all but one of its UK sites

A popular bakery and coffee chain has closed all but one of its UK sites with the loss of 250 jobs.

In another blow to the High Street, Le Pain Quotidien’s owner BrunchCo UK tumbled into administration in the face of dwindling demand and rising costs.

Eight cafes in London and one in Oxford have shut as a result of the insolvency. 

However, the Le Pain Quotidien site at London’s St Pancras railway station, run by sister company SPQ Holdings Limited, will continue to operate. 

Administrators revealed that the chain was hit hard by ‘reduced revenues as a result of decreased footfall in the capital, high rents and increased wage costs’.

The collapse came as figures showed restaurants closed at their highest rate in a decade in the first three months of the year.

Chartered accountants Price Bailey said 569 restaurants filed for insolvency in the first quarter – an average of 5.6 per day – bringing the total to 2,028 over the last year.