Exclusive: Records show Beauvoir Developments Ltd has agreed to be wound up
The company behind the Liverpool Hooters restaurant has filed for liquidation. The venue in Water Street was closed today (Monday).
The company behind Liverpool’s controversial Hooters restaurant has gone into liquidation. The controversial US-restaurant chain has been operating in Liverpool since a licence was granted to a company called Beauvoir Developments Ltd to operate a franchise of the company in New Zealand House in Water Street in Liverpool city centre. Its launch made it only the second Hooters venue in the UK.
The licence was approved despite the protestations of the then Mayor of Liverpool Joanne Anderson, who claimed the chain had an “infamously sexually objectifying and misogynistic environment.”
This was not the only row the venue would have with the city council as it was told to remove some large orange signs that the local authority said had been placed on the Water Street building without permission. City centre councillor Nick Small was another vocal critic of the venue, branding the signs ‘unlawful.’ The row made its way to court last year with Beavoir director Rachael Moss pleading not guilty to a number of counts relating to the signs.
But now it can be revealed that the company behind the Hooters venue is in the process of being wound up and has appointed a liquidator.
A notice on the Companies House website states that at a meeting on December 6, it was agreed that the company would be wound up voluntarily and that Molly Monks of Cheshire-based insolvency firm Parker Walsh would be appointed as liquidator. Records show that Beauvoir Developments’ registered office address has also been changed from an address in Garston in Liverpool to the Bramhall address of the liquidators.
Hooters opened in Liverpool in 2022(Image: Liverpool Echo)
The winding up of a company refers to the closing of its operations, selling off its assets and paying off any creditors. When a company is formally liquidated it will stop doing business and employing staff.
As well as issues with the local council and politicians, Hooters has had rows with businesses close to its Water Street site. In 2022 the ECHO reported that Liverpool cooking school Flour Will Fly feared it may have to close because of noise coming out of an extractor fan at the rear of the building occupied by Hooters. Ms Moss said at the time her business had done nothing wrong.
When the ECHO visited the Hooters venue in Water Street today the restaurant was closed with its large front doors shut. The ECHO has attempted to contact Ms Moss and Parker Walsh for comment.