Karaoke chain to shut three venues despite rescue deal after administration

Karaoke group Lucky Voice is to shut three venues with the loss of dozens of jobs despite being snapped up in a rescue deal.

Swedish karaoke bar firm Moyagi Group struck a pre-pack deal to buy the UK chain after it hired administrators on Tuesday.

Lucky Voice ran six sites across the UK but will now shut half of these with immediate effect as part of the insolvency process.

The brand’s locations in Soho, Holborn and Liverpool Street in London will transfer to Moyagi.

The deal will also include the Lucky Voice brand, intellectual property, its business-to-business operation and 59 employees, administrators from Interpath said.

However, Lucky Voice sites in Brighton, Waterloo and Islington were not included and will therefore shut immediately.

The closure of these sites will result in 53 redundancies.

Administrators said the process comes after Lucky Voice, which was founded in 2005, saw a “deterioration” in trading in the past 12 months, amid a challenging consumer backdrop.

The firm suffered increased pressure on liquidity and ultimately entered administration after it was unable to secure a solvent sale.

Steve Absolom, managing director at Interpath and joint administrator, said: “Lucky Voice has been one of the most recognisable names in the UK’s nightlife scene for two decades, and we are pleased to have secured a future for the brand and for three of its most popular venues.

“The wider night-time economy continues to face significant headwinds.

“Rising employment costs, elevated energy bills and a consumer who has become increasingly selective about discretionary spending have put real pressure on operators.

“Many across the sector have felt those pressures acutely, and Lucky Voice was sadly not immune.

“Our priority now is to support the employees at the sites in Brighton, Waterloo and Islington with their redundancy claims and ensure a smooth transition of the continuing sites to Moyagi.”