Liverpool's Blundell Street Supper Club heads into administration

A LIVERPOOL city centre restaurant has become the latest victim of the credit crunch, after falling into administration.

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The Blundell Street Supper Club is no longer allowed to serve alcohol after its licence lapsed.

The administrators failed to transfer the licence within the seven-day period, as required by council guidelines.

As a result, Blundell Street is unable to sell alcohol until a valid licence is applied for from the local authority.

That process could take between two weeks and a month, and represents a blow in the busy Easter trading period.

Bosses at the venue, off The Strand, say they will remain open to serve food and soft drinks.

This follows the alcohol ban which hit Circo, Raven, Korova and Babycream, part of Docklands Bar Ltd, after it fell into administration in March.

The bars and clubs suffered a similar fate and face thousands of pounds of lost revenue as it occurred over the busy Grand National weekend and is set to continue over Easter. Licensing officers from Merseyside Police are satisfied the Blundell Street owners were not aware the licence had lapsed, so did not issue closure notices.

Last night, solicitor?s firm Licensing Legal called for greater care to be taken surrounding the transferring of premises? licences after falling into administration.

In February, it was revealed that Cantina Tequila, sister restaurant of Blundell Street Supper Club, had closed its doors.

The tough financial climate has hit many restaurants hard, who have responded by offering regular food offers and reductions.

Anne Downes, the owner of Liverpool?s Blundell Street, last night warned other bar and restaurant owners in the city to be clear about their licensing position. She said: ?This is a procedural problem.

?I?m not the first one to have suffered because of this and neither I nor the legal team were aware of this.

?This is a tough time, particularly for the restaurant industry here in the city, and we need help where we can. There is no way round this and we should have been aware of it.?

LDP