TGI Fridays is set to sell its chain of 87 restaurants across the UK after the owners of the company announced it has gone into administration.
Hostmore, which owns TGI in this country, is in the process of trying to sell the UK restaurants to new owners, which it hopes to complete by the end of September.
It is a move which will keep the TGI Fridays brand alive on British high streets, however it is not clear at this stage whether some or all of the restaurants are likely to find a buyer.
It has been confirmed though that the American-inspired restaurant chain will continue to stay open as normal while the administration process starts.
Earlier this month, the hospitality firm said it was not expecting to recover any meaningful value from the sale of sites.
This means it would earn less from the sale than it owes to creditors and banks, putting numerous restaurants at risk of closing.
To see which TGI Fridays could soon be gone near you, see MailOnlines interactive map below:
TGI Fridays has 87 restaurants across the UK, having been founded in New York in 1965
TGIs owner said sales so far this year are 12 per cent lower than the same period last year
TGI Fridays was founded in New York in 1965 when the first restaurant was opened by Alan Stillman on the corner of 63rd Street and 1st Avenue.
The themed restaurants - whose name stands for Thank God Its Friday were inspired by circus performances and became known for their bartenders mixing cocktails in dramatic fashion.
It took until 1986 for TGI to arrive in Britain when it opened in Birmingham, before the first London outlet came along in Covent Garden a year later.
By 1993 there were 12 UK restaurants, while the total had hit 41 by 2004.
In 2007, the UK chain was bought by Carlson Restaurants Worldwide and ABN Amro Capital, before Electra Private Equity invested in the group in 2014 and its total hit 66 sites.
In 2020, Hostmore came out of Electra in 2021 and the chain now has 87 outlets - but faces an uncertain future given its parent companys struggles.
In a stock market update last Monday, Hostmore said sales so far this year are 12 per cent lower than the same period last year, blaming persistent warmer weather than the comparative period in 2023 and underlying weak consumer spending.
The UK operator of TGI Fridays has gone into administration as the hospitality firm scrambles to sell its chain of 87 restaurants
TGI opened its first UK restaurant in Birmingham in 1986, then another in London one year later
Hostmore, which owns TGI in this country, said it had appointed administrators from Teneo after plans to buy the US restaurant chain collapsed earlier this month
The company also said it had abandoned plans to buy all the TGI restaurants in the US, where there are 128 sites, in a deal that would have been worth £177million.
Hostmore shares tanked by more than 90% after the news earlier in September, as shareholders took the brunt. Its shares are now worth less than 0.2 pence per share.
Its shares have now been suspended from the London Stock Exchange and the public company will be delisted and wound up.
It has had a short and terrible run as a public company, having come out of private equity trust Electra in November 2021.