Tuesday, February 07, 2012

Several Piccadilly Pubs in Massachusetts Have "Temporarily" Closed

A small local chain of casual American restaurants whose parent company was just purchased by a Canadian firm has closed most, if not all of its Massachusetts locations, though the closings may be temporary.

According to the Worcester Telegram & Gazette, locations of the Piccadilly Pub in Auburn, Sturbridge, Westboro, and Worcester have shuttered, with a sign on the Sturbridge door stating the following: "Piccadilly Pub Restaurants have temporarily closed. Currently, a date has not been set for a re-opening. We apologize for any inconvenience." It appears that locations in Foxboro, Marlborough, North Attleboro, North Reading, and West Springfield have closed as well, as the article mentions that the phones at all other locations in the state went unanswered last night.

The closings of the Piccadilly Pub restaurants are apparently related to the sale of its parent company, as an article in the Boston Business Journal states that the Boston-based Elephant & Castle Group, which filed for bankruptcy last June, has been bought by FranWorks Group, which is based in Canada. The article indicates that for the time being, there will be no changes to the Elephant & Castle restaurants (one of which is located in downtown Boston).

[February 9 update: According to The Foxboro Reporter, there is still no word on when (or if) locations of the Piccadilly Pub will reopen. The newspaper also mentions that the recent purchase by FranWorks Group included Elephant and Castle, but it did not include the Piccadilly Pub chain.]

For more information on this story, please go to the links below.

[Worcester Telegram & Gazette]
Piccadilly Pub slams doors

[Boston Business Journal]
Elephant and Castle pub chain sold to Canadian firm