All-pink Instagram hotspot Boujee, a restaurant backed by Real Housewives of Cheshire star Lystra Adams, owed more than £3 million when it collapsed into administration.
A report published this week detailed the financial difficulties that the business had fallen into across its three sites, in Manchester, Liverpool and Chester.
Its Bridge Street restaurant had turned part of the stunning and historic Manchester Hall in to a pink palace, with Barbie boxes for posing in and even a fake private jet.
But the hype soon died – the Liverpool site of Boujee closed down in August, quickly followed by Manchester in September. Staff from both sites were made redundant.
The report by Dow Schofield Watts Business Recovery found that Boujee owed unsecured creditors more than £2.8m, with HMRC owed £802,783.
It said that Covid-19 restrictions left the company operating at a loss from late 2020 until restrictions eased on 17 May 2021.
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Boujee couldn’t rely on Government support at this time because the ‘majority of the Covid specific support packages were unavailable to the company due to the infancy of the business’.
The report says: “This resulted in significant cash flow difficulties for the company which was compounded further with suppliers increasing prices for food and drink produce which could not wholly be passed on to the customers.”
After being unable to renew the lease on the bar at Liverpool One due to rent arrears, Boujee’s financial position ‘continued to deteriorate’.
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It’s currently expected that there won’t be enough money to pay back the £2.8m owed to unsecured creditors or the £802,783 owed to HMRC.
Back in September announcing she was stepping back from her role at Boujee, Lystra Adams wrote in a post on Instagram: “I’m walking away … As of yesterday 23/09/2022 I walked away from what I’ve know and loved for past near two years. As many of you may know I have given considerable time and dedication in building the brand and platform for myself.
“Over the past eight months things had taken a bumpy turn. I had confidence in that the board of directors would turn it around. Unfortunately mistakes were made along the way […] and it made the comeback near impossible.”
She continued: “As a 20-per-cent shareholder and the face of the business I want you to know that I did what I could with what I had. […] I’ve made my voice heard more than before as I dreaded this day would come. I’ve taken abuse in all forms for being the face of the companies involved as well as my daughter and enough is enough.
“Sorry it’s taken so long to speak out and I want to thank each and everyone that has visited or worked for Boujee and carnival from opening until now. All my love, Lystra.”
Featured image: Boujee
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NHS rolls out new ‘life-extending’ ovarian cancer drug for first time in 20 years
Emily Sergeant
The NHS has approved a new ovarian cancer treatment for the first time in two decades.
From today, hundreds of women with ‘hard-to-treat’ ovarian cancer could benefit from a new life-extending drug on the NHS called mirvetuximab soravtansine, and it will be offered to patients living with whose disease has unfortunately stopped responding to standard chemotherapy treatments, providing them with new hope of extra time to live.
The rollout of the drug on the NHS follows a major global clinical trial involving eight NHS hospitals, which showed that the treatment delayed cancer progression and prolonged survival – with patients living 16.5 months on average compared to 12.8 months with chemotherapy.
One patient said the treatment enabled her to get on with life ‘rather than spending it in bed recovering from the side effects of chemotherapy’.
So, how does it work then?
The NHS has rolled out a new ‘life-extending’ ovarian cancer drug for the first time in 20 years / Credit: rawpixel
Well, the drug combines a ‘homing’ antibody with a cancer-killing medicine – often described by scientists as a ‘biological missile’ or ‘trojan horse’ therapy – and it works by attaching to ovarian cancer cells that have a protein called folate receptor alpha (FRα) on their surface, before releasing a cancer-killing molecule which destroys the cell from within.
The treatment is given intravenously, via a drip, over two to four hours, once every three weeks.
The drug may also have ‘more tolerable’ side effects than traditional chemotherapy, with the treatment aimed more precisely at cancer cells than chemotherapy.
The NHS estimates up to 400 patients in England each year could benefit.
“This represents the most significant breakthrough in NHS treatment for these hard-to-treat ovarian cancers in over two decades, commented Professor Ruth Plummer, who is the NHS’s national clinical lead for cancer drugs.
“We’re delighted it will now offer hundreds of women much-needed hope of precious extra time with their loved ones.
“It is part of a growing wave of more targeted cancer therapies which, by homing in on specific features of cancer cells, are helping us improve patients’ lives.”
Featured Image – Stephen Andrews (via Unsplash)
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Count Binface says he’ll put a £2 price cap on Wigan kebabs if he wins the Makerfield by-election
Emily Sergeant
Count Binface is officially running in the Makerfield by-election and has now shared his hilarious manifesto with the public.
Price-capped Wigan kebabs and 99p ice creams, cyclists being forced to ride unicycles if they break the Highway Code, and the renaming of HS2 to ‘FFS1’ are just some of the declarations being made by Makerfield by-election candidate, Count Binface.
In case you’re not up-to-speed on the Makerfield by-election coming up on 18 June – which was called after Labour’s Josh Simons announced he was standing down – there are now a total of 14 hopefuls set to contest the parliamentary seat.
Greater Manchester Mayor, Andy Burnham, is by far the most well-known candidate in the running, alongside other names like Conservative’s Michael Winstanley, Liberal Democrats’ Jake Austin, the Green Party’s Sarah Wakefield, and Reform UK’s Michael Kenyon.
But Burnham is not the only big name… there’s also Count Binface too, of course.
Count Binface – previously known as Lord Buckethead – is the alias of comedian and perennial candidate, Jonathan David Harvey.
He announced his intentions to run for the Makerfield seat last month, before officially publishing his manifesto today (3 June), which includes 20 pledges – some serious, others less so… we presume.
On a more local level to the Makerfield area, if Count Binface wins the by-election, he has pledged to re-phase the traffic lights on Liverpool Road to ease congestion, increase the free parking limit at the Gerard Centre to three hours, and to make Galloways’ Full Monty Bin Lid breakfast the country’s new national dish.
And then on a more comical level – yes, even more comical than a new national dish – this is where you’ll find pledges like making sure there’s WiFi on trains that works and also ‘trains that work’ too, as well as the bringing back of Ceefax teletext for all Greater Manchester residents, and the increasing of points for tries in Rugby League from four to five ‘in line with inflation’.
Oh yeah, and there’s the promise that Count Binface will be the UK’s entrant to Eurovision in 2027, let’s not forget that.
Anyway, like we said, the Makerfield by-election is coming up on 18 June, and you can find out more information about all the candidates on the Wigan Council website here.
Daisy Jackson -
22nd December 2022 
