Ed Sheeran’s fashionable Notting Hill eatery has fallen prey to the ongoing pub crisis in the UK, with debts soaring to nearly £1.3 million.
Bertie Blossoms, a chic establishment launched by the singer in 2019, has yet to see profitability, largely due to the challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic, as reported by The Mirror.
In financial records submitted in December, the company, operating under That Dive Bar Portobello, revealed net current liabilities amounting to £1.3 million as of December 2024.
The company’s financial statements also indicated a decline of £763,000 since December 2021.
In response to these difficulties, the business has reduced its workforce to five employees, down from six the previous year and 10 in 2020.
Sheeran inaugurated Bertie Blossoms on Portobello Road in West London back in September 2019.
The restaurant appeared to struggle in recent years after it was forced to shut temporarily in 2020 due to the pandemic.
The singer at the time refused to furlough his ten staff, instead paying their wages out of his own pocket.
Back in 2021, the singer offered 50 per cent off white wine in an effort to lure customers to order takeaway from his restaurant.
Ed Sheeran, 35, opened the upmarket Bertie Blossoms in Portobello Road, West London, in September 2019
The eatery’s celebrity customers are said to include the likes of Peter Crouch and Abbey Clancy
And in 2023, customers slammed its £19 dishes, as they complained they ‘taste like second-rate microwave meals’.
The dining spot, said to be named in honour of Sheeran’s wife Cherry Seaborn, changes its menu frequently but has been known to serve steak, pasta dishes and chocolate and prune brownies among its plates.
Previous menus list just nine items on the entire list, with the restaurant’s website saying that its food is ‘freshly prepared’.
But some diners took to TripAdvisor to reveal their disappointment after eating there.
One customer said: ‘What a disappointment, the food options were limited. Which wouldn’t have been a problem if the quality wasn’t so poor.’
She added: ‘You could see through to the kitchen. Which looked more like a roadside catering van. Food tasted similar.
‘Everything was manufactured and if it couldn’t be deep fried it was over-boiled or fried. Looked like a good clean wouldn’t hurt either.
‘Expensive for what tasted like a second-rate microwave meal and both the server and chef looked like a good wash wouldn’t hurt them either.’
It comes as pubs across the UK continue to struggle following on from the pandemic, with two a day being forced to close.
Earlier this month, Reform UK unveiled plans to save the UK’s pubs after warning thousands are having to shut their doors.
Leader Nigel Farage announced his party will reduce VAT to 10 per cent for the hospitality sector if they win the next election.
The plan will be paid for by reinstating the two-child benefit limit for everyone except British working families, the party said.
Reform claimed it would scrap the employer national insurance increase for hospitality businesses, which was announced by Rachel Reeves in her first budget.
It also vowed to cut beer duty by 10 per cent and eventually abolish business rates for all pubs while changing regulations to support landlords.
Pubs across the UK continue to struggle following on from the pandemic. Pictured is the interior of Sheeran’s restaurant
Reform MP Lee Anderson blamed the two main parties for ‘facilitating’ the closure of thousands of pubs in the last ten years.
‘The loss of one pub is not just the loss of livelihood for a landlord, or the loss of a local employment hub,’ he said.
‘The loss of one pub is a loss to all of us as inheritors of a tradition dating back to Roman rule.
‘Yet the Conservatives, and now Labour, have facilitated the closure of thousands of pubs over the last decade. Any contrition they show is false.
‘The crisis facing the Great British pub has been allowed to become acute, and our nation is poorer for it.’
Last month, the Chancellor announced a rescue package for landlords worth around £100million next year and said opening hours would be extended.
It means that pubs in England will get 15 per cent off their business rates next year, with that amount frozen for two years after that.
It wasn’t enough, however, to lift a pub ban on Labour MPs, which began after Ms Reeves announced that Covid-era support was coming to an end.
Reform said their plan would be paid for by reinstating the two-child limit on Universal Credit for everyone bar British families where both parents are in work.
It said this would save approximately £3billion by 2029/30, which it would use to prop up the hospitality sector.
The restaurant is said to be named in honour of his wife Cherry Seaborn (pictured together at the Brit Awards afterparty in February 2017)
The party said it would work towards abolishing business rates for all pubs over the next four years, prioritising those most in need of help.
According to the British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA), there were 69,000 pubs in 1980, which fell to 46,350 in 2021.
The Campaign For Real Ale said that a thousand pubs shut in 2025, the equivalent of five a day, although some are seeking new owners.
Trade bodies also say business rates, duty increases, wage and tax rises, and new waste regulations put up costs.
UKHospitality, which represents pubs, restaurants and hotels, estimated that it added £1billion in extra national insurance costs last year following the budget.
