Revolution Bars to enter administration with 2,200 jobs at risk

The owner of Revolucion de Cuba and Peach Pubs is to go into administration, putting as many as 2,200 jobs at risk.

Revel Collective, the parent company which has 62 pubs and bars across the UK, put itself up for sale in October after facing what it called “a continued period of external challenges”.

The company said on Monday that discussions with a buyer are “well advanced” but it had filed to enter administration, with shareholders in the company to be left with nothing after the sale.

Its pubs and bars will stay open through the process, but it has been suspended from trading on London’s junior AIM stock exchange.

Revel Collective, chaired by former Pizza Express boss Luke Johnson, said administrators will be appointed within 10 days.

In a statement, it confirmed the deals being considered will wipe out shareholders and that it was entering administration to “protect creditors”, such as banks.

In December it said it had found “a significant number” of potential buyers, and was publicly linked with hospitality groups including bar and club owner Neos Hospitality.

An announcement on a sale is expected in the coming days.

When it put itself up for sale last autumn, Revel Collective blamed “challenging economic conditions” and decisions taken by Chancellor Rachel Reeves in Labour’s first Budget after coming to power in 2024.

That October, the chancellor increased national insurance contributions for employers and announced a rise in the minimum wage.

Revel Collective also hit out at Labour’s decision to increase duties on spirits, which it said will cost more than £4m each year across the group.

A turnaround plan, which saw it shut 15 loss-making bars, was not enough to revive its fortunes, the company said.

It is the latest high street firm to sound the alarm over higher taxes and staffing costs, with figures published on Monday revealing a surge in closures at the end of 2025.

Data from consumer research firm NIQ showed that 382 hospitality firms shut up shop in the final three months of the year, more than four each day. The UK ended the year with 98,914 hospitality sites, it said.

Karl Chessell, director of hospitality operators and food at NIQ, said “relentless increases in operating costs” are taking a severe toll on the sector.

Pubs, restaurants and other hospitality firms have warned a crisis facing the sector will deepen when changes to how business rates are calculated come into effect in April.

The chancellor is expected to water down the planned changes for pubs, which industry groups warned would see mass closures without a government rethink.

She is facing pressure to go further and ensure any package of support benefits the whole hospitality sector, not only pubs.

The Treasury has been approached for comment.