GARY NEVILLE’S booming hospitality business empire has hit a rough patch.
Not everything has gone to plan for the Manchester United legend after he was forced to close the doors on a FIFTH restaurant.
Gary Neville has been forced to shut his restaurant with £1m debts
The Man Behind the Curtain first opened in 2014
Neville owned half of the Leeds diner
One of the most unusual looking dishes was a denia red prawn served on a telephone – a play on the ‘Lobster Telephone’ object created by Salvador Dali
The Man Behind the Curtain had a reputation for artistic presentation
This comes after Neville’s Leeds restaurant went into liquidation last month with debts reported at £1million – including £519,000 owed in taxes.
The Man Behind the Curtain was launched in 2014 and run by former Masterchef star Micheal O’Hare, with Neville owning half of it via Relentless Leisure.
It received a Michelin star in 2015 along with three AA rosettes in 2016.
The venue gained a reputation for its extravagant and highly priced dishes including denia red prawn served on a telephone – a play on Salvador Dali’s ‘Lobster Telephone’.
The filing also shows that Neville’s company Relentless Leisure is owed £366,848 by the restaurant.
The accounts for 2023 are overdue but those for 2022 reported a £187,000 profit and reserves at £105,938.
Meanwhile, this isn’t the first time Neville has been forced to walk away from a restaurant.
While the United icon is far more successful in other business areas, SunSport takes a look at his four other failed dining concepts.
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The Rabbit in the Moon
Neville, 49, and former team-mate Ryan Giggs, 50, invested in The Rabbit in the Moon before it ceased in 2017.
The Old Trafford duo would link up O’Hare again after naming him the Creative Director of GG Hospitality in 2016.
The idea was to run a successful space-age Asian restaurant in Manchester – but it only lasted a year.
Diners were treated to fried calf brains, crispy rabbit ears and an octopus hot dog.
The fine-dining venue was on the top two floors of Urbis, a six-story building on Exchange Square in Manchester.
When O’Hare launched the concept, he hoped it would win the first Michelin star for Manchester in decades.
But the bizarre space-themed diner served it’s last meal in 2018 after GG Hospitality announced significant losses to shareholders.
The Rabbit in the Moon restaurant in Manchester was closed after two years
Chef Hare came up with the space-age Asian concept
Café Football
Meanwhile, GG Hospitality’s endured a miserable 2019 as well after they were forced to close TWO Café Football sites after six years.
Opening in 2013, Café Football initially occupied a big, echoey space in the Westfield shopping centre at Stratford in East London.
There was a section of Fans’ Favourites including Karren Brady‘s Match Day Classic – pie, mash and liquor, chilli vinegar for £13.95 – or Kirsty Gallacher‘s Terrace Winter Warmer – chilli with steamed rice and soured cream.
And Neville and Giggs decided to open one in Manchester city centre, but that closed in March 2019.
The venues were axed after GG Hospitality said: “We have decided to shift our focus to our hotel business.”
At the time Neville said: “They were decisions made by me while Ryan has been coaching…but we all learn don’t we?”
Gary and former teammate Ryan Giggs shut Café Football in Manchester a week after they axed the diner’s branch in Stratford, East London
A third branch remains open in Singapore, operating through a different company, but both UK restaurants closed in early 2019.
Singaporean businessman Peter Lim is also a shareholder at GG Hospitality and owns the majority stake in Salford City.
Class of 92 stars David Beckham, Paul Scholes and Roy Keane join Neville and Giggs in each owning 10 per cent of the League Two club.
Lim also owns Valencia, the team Neville famously and miserably managed for 28 games in 2016.
Nevertheless, a smaller version of Café Football has since opened inside Neville’s Hotel Football just metres away from Old Trafford.
Valencia owner Peter Lim has been in business with Neville for many years
The Stock Market Grill
The swanky Stock Market Grill closed last July – after just four months of operation.
It replaced Tom Kerridges’ The Bull & Bear restaurant at Neville’s and Giggs’ Stock Exchange Hotel, also co-owned by hotelier Winston Zahra.
The British brasserie was the brainchild of brothers Joe and Daniel Schofield, who already operate bars in the city.
A statement released by the hotel read: “We have taken the decision to close the doors to Stock Market Grill, as of July 3.
“We want to focus on the hotel’s premium cocktail bar, Sterling, in the Vault.”
“The restaurant will, however, continue to serve breakfast and in-room dining to all overnight guests.”
The Stock Market Grill was inside the Sock Exchange Hotel in Manchester
The hotel is one of Neville’s greatest business achievements
Neville retired from professional football in 2011 and has gone on to build up a £100m empire.
He has been listed as a director of 56 businesses on Companies House.
While he has interests in media, hotels, pubs, restaurants and education, his most impressive work has been in property development.
Among the most high-profile interests are his two hotels, which between them hold £32million in property assets – almost a third of his corporate net wealth.
The star owns a 40 per cent share in the Stock Exchange development, which is close to Piccadilly Gardens, in Manchester, alongside Giggs – and he also co-runs the luxurious Hotel Football, which overlooks Old Trafford.
Earlier this year he joined Dragon’s Den as an investor, alongside Deborah Meaden, Peter Jones, Touker Suleyman, Sara Davis, and Steven Bartlett.
Neville also runs Tiger Sports Management – the residual image rights and sponsorship firm that he set up in 1996 when he was just 21 years old.
And he does all of this while presenting and offering commentary for Sky Sports each week.
Neville joined the cast of Dragon’s Den earlier this year
