Simon Rimmer got here near “shedding every part” when he made his “worst enterprise resolution”. The Sunday Brunch host, 62, confessed that within the late nineties, his plan to open a brand new restaurant shortly went south – and he was “actually days away” from shedding his empire.

In 1998, Simon’s third restaurant Meals was “shedding cash hand over fist”, as he admitted to The Telegraph. Simon opened the restaurant together with his enterprise companion Simon Connolly, however quickly the pair have been “in a race with the financial institution”, battling to promote the joint earlier than it foreclosed.

He informed the publication: “We have been actually days away from shedding every part. Simply serious about it now, over 20 years later, nonetheless offers me super anxiousness. I had an 18-month-old daughter and my spouse wasn’t working. It was a horrible, horrible time.”

In the identical interview, he admitted that the restaurant was an “absolute catastrophe” as a result of they selected the incorrect location, explaining: “We thought Fallowfield was going to rework from a studenty space to a trendier, gentrified space like Didsbury did, nevertheless it simply didn’t occur.

“Our first and second eating places had gone properly and we thought we have been invincible, however this led to me shedding my self-confidence for whereas.”

Although issues recovered for the TV presenter, Simon was compelled to shut the doorways to his well-liked restaurant Greens in 2024. The vegan and vegetarian restaurant opened in 1990 and closed its doorways greater than 30 years later.

Paperwork filed to Corporations Home for the restaurant confirmed that greater than £500,000 was owed in unpaid debt by the chain to collectors.

The doc says: “It’s estimated that HMRC are owed a complete of £458,873 comprised of unpaid VAT and PAYE. We perceive that [Royal Bank of Scotland] have been owed £13,164.10 on the time of the directors’ appointment.

“Commerce Collectors are estimated within the sum of £75,067 with three claims totalling £1,923 acquired by the directors thus far. Client collectors who’ve paid for restaurant vouchers and reward playing cards are estimated to be owed £35,790.”

Simon informed the MEN of Greens’ closure: “It was heartbreaking. Simply heartbreaking. [It was] my very first restaurant. I’ve grown up there. I’ve had children there. I’ve grown from being a boy to a person, began a tv profession, purchased my home off the again of it. Greens have been the cornerstone of my life.”