Company behind York café to be wound up
The company behind a York city centre café is being wound up.
Gron Kafe (York) Ltd operated Gron Kafe on Low Petergate.
Launched by Matt Healy, who was runner-up in BBC’s Masterchef: The Professionals in 2016, the café opened in February 2020, shortly before the Covid pandemic struck.
Mr Healy is not a director of Gron Kafe (York) Ltd.
According to an official notice, the company “cannot, by reason of its liabilities, continue its business, and that it is advisable to wind up the same, and accordingly that the company be wound up voluntarily”.
Matthew Russell and Gareth James Lewis of Lewis Business Recovery & Insolvency were appointed as joint liquidators.
It has left debts to unsecured creditors of £57,712. Much of that – £22,438 – is owed to Marc Cunliffe, the sole director of Gron Kafe (York) Ltd.
Another £18,980 is owed to two sister businesses, Gron Kafe (Harrogate) Ltd and Gron Kafe (Leeds) Ltd.
Gron, which has an emphasis on healthy vegetarian and vegan food, announced it was leaving York in November 2021.
“It’s been an incredible ride,” Gron Kafe York said back then on social media. “Opening weekend an epic storm hit, followed by a flood, and after that? An entire pandemic!
“Three lockdowns later, it hasn’t been easy but we eventually got the chance to open fully, and it’s been glorious getting to know you all. But this space never quite felt like us.”
It had taken over the space vacated by Filmore & Union, which shut when its parent company went into administration in 2019.
The Gron Kafe in Harrogate shut down in November 2022. But two Gron Kafes still operate in Leeds.
It looks like the empty York building may soon have a new occupant, however. It is being marketed by Barry Crux on a five-year lease for rent of £40,000 per year.
The unit is now said to be ‘under offer’.