You remember it well. The smell of burgers, the oversized milkshakes, the way they accosted you on your birthday. TGI Friday’s has been a staple of UK high streets for nearly 40 years, but its time could soon be coming to an end, as its parent company has gotten itself into some difficulty.
It’s always a shame when companies go under, but if you’re a regular person it can be difficult to cut through the jargon and actually understand what’s going on. That’s what we’re here for.
We’ve got everything you need to know about TGI Friday’s potential imminent UK demise put right here in a simple, easy to understand way. Read on to discover what is actually going on with the diner chain, and if the UK really is about to lose a high-street staple.
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Why could TGI Friday’s collapse?
Basically, the UK branch of the chain’s parent company, Hostmore, had planned to buy out the American TGI brand, but that fell through. This led a lot of investors to believe that the company was unable to remain competitive.
On top of the top-level struggles, there’s the simple fact that people aren’t going to TGI Friday’s as much as they used to. UK sales at the chain apparently went down by more than 10 percent over the last year, and those sales are only continuing to decline.
Following high inflation and the cost-of-living crisis, money is also still stretched for a lot of people, so they’re eating out a lot less. This has put a lot of slightly more upscale chains, such as TGIs and competitors like Wagamamas, under pressure.
The silver lining is that most TGIs restaurants are franchised, meaning that they’re run as individual businesses that rent out the branding. It’s possible that some of them will stay open even if Hostmore goes under, although at present it’s unclear who they’ll licence the name from.
Who owns TGI Fridays in the UK?
Hostmore is a London based hospitality company which primarily owns TGI Friday’s in the UK. Its failure to merge with the US version of the brand gave a lot of its shareholders a fright, which caused stock prices to fall quite drastically. The company hasn’t actually given up yet, so there is a small chance it’ll be able to turn things around and remain the owner of the UK’s favourite American diner. Only time will tell.
Full list of TGI Fridays restaurants at risk
As of right now, all UK TGI Friday’s restaurants will stay open as usual. It’s pretty likely that we’ll start to see some of them shut up shop in the not too distant future, but there’s no way to know which of the 85 locations will get the chop first at this stage.
Hostmore only really got into hot water this week, so it could be a little while before we see the full effects of their downfall. Keep your eyes on your local TGI’s – it may not be long for this world.
Here is the entire list of every TGI Fridays branch in the UK as of September 10 2024:
- Aberdeen Beach
- Aberdeen Union Square
- Ashton-under-Lyne
- Barnsley
- Basildon
- Birminghm
- Birmingham NEC
- Bluewater
- Bolton
- Bournemouth
- Bracknell
- Braehead
- Braintree
- Brighton Marina
- Cabot Circus
- Cardiff Newport Road
- Cardiff St David's
- Castleford
- Cheadle
- Chelmsford
- Cheltenham
- Cheshire Oaks
- Coventry
- Crawley
- Cribbs Causeway
- Croydon
- Derby
- Doncaster
- Durham
- Edinburgh
- Enfield
- Fareham
- Fort Kinnaird
- Gateshead
- Glasgow Buchanan Street
- Glasgow Fort
- Gloucester Quays
- Halifax
- High Wycombe
- Jersey
- Lakeside Quay
- Lakeside Retail Park
- Leeds Junction 27
- Leeds Wellington Bridge Street
- Leeds White Rose
- Leicester
- Lincoln
- Liverpool One
- Liverpool Speke
- London Leicester Square
- London Stratford City
- London the O2
- Manchester Royal Exchange
- Meadowhall
- Metro Centre Gateshead
- Milton Keynes
- Milton Keynes Stadium
- Newcastle Eldon Square
- Newport Friars Walk
- Northampton
- Norwich
- Nottingham
- Prestwich
- Reading
- Romford
- Rushden Lakes
- Sale
- Sheffield
- Silverburn
- Solihull
- Southampton Retail Park
- Staines
- Stevenage
- Teesside
- Telford
- Trafford Centre
- Trinity Leeds
- Walsall
- Watford Central
- Watford North
- Wembley
- West Quay
Beloved British brands and Time Out
As the custodian of British city life with all its ups and downs, we at Time Out have up-to-date info about what’s closing, what’s new and everything in-between. Here’s the full list of UK high street stores closing in 2024, where the next UNIQLO store is opening and which Homebase stores are being replaced with supermarkets.
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