CAKE chain Patisserie Valerie has shut its three Belfast shops after its owners said the group "has not recovered as well as we expected".
In a statement, the business said that although many of its sites had "recovered well" from the pandemic, a review of its estate led to the conclusion that certain locations would not "recover sufficiently".
Its three Belfast sites at Donegal Square West, Castle Lane and Forestside are all closing, along with six more in Britain at Victoria Station, Windsor, Dundee, Glasgow Central, Eastbourne and Exeter.
After the closures - which will affect more than 100 staff - the group's VP Retail subsidiary will cease to trade.
Patisserie Valerie said the nine closures will not affect the wider business, which will continue as usual.
Chief executive James Fleming said: "Whilst closing stores is never an easy decision to take, we are confident this is the right thing to do to ensure the group is in a stronger position to continue investing and delivering the high quality experience our customers rightly expect in these challenging times."
Founded by Belgian-born Madam Valerie, the first Patisserie Valerie opened in 1926 in London's Soho and at one stage having operated 120 shops, it now has 30 sites across the UK.
In 2018 the business was put up for sale after collapsing following the discovery of fraudulent activity in its accounts (this later led to accounting giant Grant Thornton and auditor David Newstead being handed fines totalling nearly £2.5 million over what investigators said was "a serious lack of competence").
But the chain was bought out of administration in 2019 by Dublin-based Causeway Capital Partners, safeguarding more than 1,000 jobs.
Throughout that process 90 shops were closed, but the chain's outlets in Northern Ireland were not impacted.
However, having survived that period of uncertainty, staff in Belfast have now been made redundant on the back of its shops not enjoying the footfall they enjoyed pre-pandemic.
Patisserie Valerie's departure comes as food-to-go chain Pret A Manger announced plans to open in Ireland for the first time.
The sandwich franchise says it will open 20 shops in both Northern Ireland and the Republic over the next decade in a move expected to create around 500 jobs.
