Sodexho to close Edinburgh Rhodes

The Rhodes & Co restaurant that opened at Edinburgh's luxury department store Jenners in September 1999 is to close next month.

The 90-seat restaurant is part of a chain owned and managed by catering multinational Sodexho using Gary Rhodes's name and menus.

Sodexho's managing director for hotels and commercial restaurants, David Nugent, said: "Rhodes & Co had been well received by critics and customers alike and had won a number of awards. But, unfortunately, the customer numbers didn't match our expectations."

The closure follows the announcement that Punch Group is to close the historic Buttery restaurant in Glasgow. The company said it was sad to be closing the restaurant, but people had to "use it or lose it". Punch now intends to develop it for other uses.

Elsewhere in Scotland this year the Leonardo's chain went into receivership and Glasgow caf‚-bar Banana Brothers also closed.

Despite the string of setbacks, observers of the Scottish restaurant scene remained positive.

David Reid, director of property company Christie & Co in Glasgow, said: "It's not all doom and gloom. In the last five years there has been a lot of growth in Glasgow and there are bound to be a few casualties."

Alan Tomkins, chairman of the Glasgow Restaurateurs Association, said he believed the city was a very vibrant market, and he was hopeful for the future.