Buddha Bar goes into administration

The well-known London nightspot Buddha Bar on Victoria Embankment has entered administration with the loss of 80 jobs.

Buddha Bar, famed for an 18ft-high Buddha statue in the dining room, opened in August 2008, shortly after the collapse of the bank Lehman Brothers.

The venue ceased trading immediately after administrator Baker Tilly was appointed yesterday and 80 full- and part-time staff were made redundant.

Baker Tilly said it now hoped to find a buyer for the assets of the business, which is owned by property tycoon Simon Halabi. Halabi, who was worth an estimated £3b in 2007 was reported to have been declared bankrupt last month.

Administrator David Hudson said: “This particular market is only now recovering from what has been a very difficult trading environment over the past two years. Naturally, high-quality entertainment venues have a high start-up cost and, with Buddha Bar opening just before the beginning of the recession in 2008, it compounded what was a difficult market for the business.”

Staff at the bar were understood not to have been paid their wages in May and will now have to claim the cash back as unsecured creditors. 

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