A NUMBER of popular nightlife venues in Galway city have closed their doors with the loss of 85 jobs as the recession bites at the start of 2011.
Cuba on Eyre Square, the Cellar Bar and Harvest off-licence premises, all part of the Jona Group owned by the Grealish family, have gone into voluntary liquidation. Staff were informed of the decision at the weekend.
John Grealish, a director of the group, said: “Since the start of the recession in June 2008 the sales in these three businesses have fallen by between 20 per cent and 50 per cent. In the last two years we have tried to manage . . . by reducing costs.
“This involved redundancies, pay reductions, severe reductions in hours worked and major reductions in other costs. I sincerely thank all of our employees for the sacrifices that they made.”
Mr Grealish said they tried to arrange reduced rents but that most landlords would not agree to make reductions.
He said the remaining businesses in the Jona Group – McCanns SuperValu Moycullen, McCanns Centra Moycullen and Centra Ballybrit – are unaffected.
