Glasgow TGI Fridays restaurants at risk as owner enters administration

Four Glasgow restaurants are at risk of closing after TGI Fridays' owner entered administration today.

The news comes after the UK operator of the American hospitality chain scrambled to sell all 87 branches of the restaurant.

TGI Fridays have sites at Buchanan Street, The Fort, Silverburn and Braehead and owners Hostmore said it had appointed joint administrators from Teneo.

The first TGI Fridays in Glasgow opened on Buchanan Street in 1993 and were famous for their American sized portions of burgers and wings as well as their cocktails and energetic waiting staff.

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But now the future of the brand is uncertain.

The American-inspired restaurant chain is open as normal while the administration process starts.

The collapse of the hospitality business comes after plans to buy the US restaurant chain for £177 million fell through earlier this month. It would have merged with US-based TGI Fridays Inc, to create a larger firm to keep the TGI Fridays brand alive in the UK and save thousands of jobs.

But it said earlier this month that it was not expecting to “recover any meaningful value” from the sale of sites, meaning it would earn less from the sale than it owes to creditors and banks.

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It is also not clear whether it will secure a buyer for the entire chain, or whether it will manage to sell some but not all of the restaurants.