Richard Corrigan: ‘Trading conditions are the hardest they’ve ever been’

Richard Corrigan Restaurants, which incorporates several sites across London and Ireland, saw turnover rise from £15.7m to £16.4m in the year ended 31 December 2023, with the group describing it as an ‘ambitious year’ featuring ‘some successes and challenges’.

Writing in the group’s accounts, Corrigan noted the sales growth at his Virginia Park Lodge country house in Cavan, Ireland, which reported a 7% increase in year-on-year revenues and a 57% rise in adjusted EBITDA.

During the year the group also opened a new gastropub close to Virginia Park Lodge called Deerpark Inn.

However, it was also forced to close its Dublin outpost The Park Café after little more than a year of trading, with the chef saying the timing of the project, the site’s location and wider economic issues all meant it was ‘not viable to continue’.

For the year the group reported a loss of £1.1m, up from a loss of £216,897 in 2022.

Corrigan added that his London restaurants suffered from a slowing of sales in the latter end of the period in part as a result of the train strikes that have dogged the sector in the past two years.

He added that the group has no immediate plans for new projects, but had been ‘delighted’ with the opening of The Portrait Restaurant in July last year within the National Portrait Gallery in central London, which the group runs in partnership with hospitality group Searcys.

Looking ahead, Corrigan said the hospitality sector ‘remains a tough market to be in’ with pressures both old and new making trading conditions ‘harder than they have ever been’.

“Without doubt staff are our industries' most important asset and new employment reforms will continue to create further economic pressures for us to navigate towards the end of 2024 and into 2025,” he continued.

“Despite that, we continue to enjoy the benefits of our long-term freehold strategy which creates a solid foundation for longer term success in London and Ireland.”