June 24, 2019 9.55 am This story is over 57 months old

Lincoln Patisserie Valerie closes suddenly

It’s amid a national fraud scandal
The cafe has been shut for three years | Photo: Connor Creaghan for The Lincolnite

Lincoln’s Pattiserie Valerie has closed its doors amid fraud allegations and arrests connected to the stricken bakery chain.

Members of staff at the Lincoln store and cafe were told on the morning of Monday, June 24, that the business would be closing immediately.

‘Closed’ signs have been posted onto the front of the shop on Lincoln High Street, as managers began boxing up stock.

The shop was in and out of the ‘at risk’ zone for many months through turbulence in the national business.

The Serious Fraud Office said that five people were arrested and questioned last week over alleged accounting fraud as part of an investigation into the company’s financial collapse.

According to statements issued over the weekend, arrests were made in Hertfordshire, Leicestershire and by the Met Police after the discovery of a £94 million gap in accounts.

The company went bust in January, when 900 people lost their jobs and 70 of the company’s 200 stores closed.

Chris Marsh, the company’s financial director, was arrested and bailed when the scandal broke.

Patisserie Valerie was bought out of administration in February by Dublin-based Causeway Capital Partners, saving 96 stores, including Lincoln.

Last week, they laid bare the cost cutting programme left to them, including the removal of butter in puff pastry.

At its height, the chain employed 3,000 people across 200 outlets. It started life in London’s Soho in 1926.

A Lincolnite reporter approached one member of staff at the shop, who this morning stated they “can’t comment”, but that Lincoln’s store was closed “for now”.