Inside Gary Neville’s FIVE failed restaurants, including joint ventures with Ryan Giggs and ‘space age’ menus

GARY NEVILLE’S thriving hospitality business empire has hit a hard spot.

Not everything has gone to plan for the highly successful Manchester United legend after he was forced to close the doors on a FIFTH restaurant.

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This comes after Neville’s Leeds restaurant went into liquidation last month with debts reported to be £1m – including £519,000 in tax owed.

The Man Behind the Curtain was launched in 2014 and run by former Masterchef star Micheal O’Hare, with Neville half-owning it via Relentless Leisure.

It received a Michelin star in 2015 along with three AA rosettes in 2016.

The venue gained a reputation for its extravagant and affordable dishes, including red denia prawns served on a TELEPHONE – a play on Salvador Dali’s ‘Lobster Phone’.

The filing also shows that Neville’s company Relentless Leisure is owed £366,848 by the restaurant.

The accounts for 2023 are due, but the accounts for 2022 reported a profit of £187,000 and reserves of £105,938.

The closure of The Man Behind The Curtain is not the first time Neville has been forced to walk away from a restaurant.

Here we take a look at his four other failed dining concepts…

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The rabbit in the moon

Neville, 49, and former team-mate Ryan Giggs, 50, invested in The Rabbit in the Moon before it folded in 2017.

The Old Trafford duo would link up with O’Hare again after appointing him Creative Director of GG Hospitality in 2016.

The idea was to run a successful space-age Asian restaurant in Manchester – but it only lasted a year.

Diners were treated to fried veal brains, crispy rabbit ears and an octopus hot dog.

The fine dining establishment was on the top two floors of Urbis, a six-storey building in Manchester’s Exchange Square.

When O’Hare launched the concept, he hoped it would win Manchester’s first Michelin star in decades.

But the bizarre space-themed diner served its last meal in 2018 after GG Hospitality announced significant losses to shareholders.

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Cafe Football

Meanwhile, GG Hospitality also endured a miserable 2019 after they were forced to close THAW Café Soccer places after six years.

Opening in 2013, Café Soccer originally occupied a large, echoing space in the Westfield shopping center in Stratford, east London.

There was a section of fans’ favourites, including Karren Brady’s Match Day Classic – pie, mash and liquor, chilli vinegar for £13.95 – or Kirsty Gallacher’s Terrace Winter Hotter – chilli with steamed rice and sour cream.

And Neville and Giggs decided to open one up City of Manchester center, but it closed in March 2019.

The venues were closed after GG Hospitality said: “We have decided to shift our focus to our hotel business.”

At the time, Neville said, “They were decisions made by me while Ryan has been training…but we all learn, don’t we?”

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A third branch remains open in Singapore, operating through a different company, but both UK restaurants closed in early 2019.

Singaporean businessman Peter Lim is also a shareholder in GG Hospitality and owns the majority of the shares in Salford City.

Class of 92 stars David Beckham, Paul Scholes and Roy Keane join Neville and Giggs, who each own 10 per cent of the League Two club.

Lim also owns Valencia, the team that Neville famously and miserably managed for 28 games in 2016.

Nevertheless, a smaller version of Café Football has since opened inside Neville’s Hotel Football just yards from Old Trafford.

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The stock market grill

The chic Stock Market Grill closed last July – after just four months of operation.

It replaced Tom Kerridges’ The Bull & Bear restaurant at Neville’s and Giggs’ Stock Exchange Hotel, also co-owned by hotelier Winston Zahra.

The British brasserie was the brainchild of brothers Joe and Daniel Schofield, who already run bars in the city.

A statement released by the hotel read: “We have made the decision to close the doors of the Stock Market Grill from July 3rd.

“We want to focus on the hotel’s premium cocktail bar, Sterling, in the Vault.

“However, the restaurant will continue to serve breakfast and dining in the room to all overnight guests.”

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Neville retired from professional football in 2011 and has gone on to build a £100m empire.

He has been listed as a director of 56 companies at Companies House.

While he has interests in media, hotels, tavernsrestaurants and education, his most impressive work has been in real estate development.

Among the most high-profile interests are his two hotels, which together have £32m in property assets – almost a third of his company’s net worth.

The star owns a 40 per cent stake in the stock market development, which is close to Manchester’s Piccadilly Gardens, along with Giggs – and he also co-runs the luxury Hotel Football, which overlooks Old Trafford.

Earlier this year, he joined Dragon’s Den as an investor alongside Deborah Meaden, Peter Jones, Touker Suleyman, Sara Davis and Steven Bartlett.

Neville also runs Tiger Sports Management – the remaining image rights and sponsorship company he set up in 1996 when he was just 21 years old.

And he does all this while presenting and offering commentary on Sky Sports every week.

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