Man Utd legends Ryan Giggs and Gary Neville closed their London restaurant due to criticism over 'sky-high' prices.

Date of publication: 3/14/2024

A restaurant set up by Manchester United legends Ryan Giggs and Gary Neville has closed after six years following customers moaning it was just like McDonald’s.

Cafe Football in Stratford, East London, has been slammed as too expensive, with one punter writing online ‘re-mortgage your property before eating here’ and another saying simply: ‘Never again’

 Footballers Gary Neville and Ryan Giggs launched their joint venture, Cafe Football, at Westfield Stratford shopping centre

Cafe Football in Stratford, East London, closed after it opened half a mile from West Ham United’s stadium

The restaurant was situated at the heart of the regenerated part of Stratford, East London, where customers complained that it was too expensive in scathing TripAdvisor reviews 

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Giggs and Neville restaurant - Mirror Online

The restaurant was situated at the heart of the regenerated part of Stratford, East London, where customers complained that it was too expensive in scathing TripAdvisor reviews 

The restaurant sits less than half a mile from West Ham United’s stadium in an area that was at the centre of the capital’s Olympics regeneration.

Its owners said the closure will allow them to focus on the brand’s hotel chain – but also said they ‘will not be making any changes to what we offer’ in terms of hospitality.

Gary Neville is pictured in a promo shot for the restaurant, which offered football-themed food including this 'half-time orange'

Gary Neville is pictured in a promo shot for the restaurant, which offered football-themed food including this ‘half-time orange’

 One fan tweeted a picture of the menu in outrage at charging £14 for traditional pie and mash

One fan tweeted a picture of the menu in outrage at charging £14 for traditional pie and mash

Cakes incorporated elements of a football pitch and were topped with a garish green and white as pictured above 

Cakes incorporated elements of a football pitch and were topped with a garish green and white as pictured above

Drinks at the themed eatery included ‘Red Devil’ cocktails and among the snacks were ‘throw-in’ chips. But scathing reviews on TripAdvisor tarred the chain as ‘just plain bad’.

Sue R wrote on the review site that it was ‘very loud, with more children than adults, food portions small, just fast food’ adding it was ‘just like McDonald’s’.

Wills 1653 posted: ‘Re-mortgage your property before eating here. Drinking in a public library would have been more exciting.’

And Deanne W wrote: ‘We went for afternoon snack just a bit of cake, it was just plain bad. Just don’t go and they don’t really care if you like what you get as long as you pay.

‘Everything is lovely to look at and clean and doesn’t have the taste to match. Hit and miss.’

Gary Neville and Ryan Giggs' Cafe Football makes £267k loss in first year

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Bar in Gary Neville and Ryan Giggs first Café Football site, at Westfield Stratford City. | Hotel, Industrial, One cafe

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Man Utd greats Ryan Giggs and Gary Neville shut restaurant slammed as 'like McDonalds' - Daily Star

A rare time, the restaurant of two Man Utd legends was filled with customers

Fan Franchesca A P had a great time when she visited, because there were so few customers. She wrote: ‘Great night. Happy hour was great, we had a whole area to ourselves.’

The company that owns the cafe, GG Hospitality, ran a promotion on Twitter just last week that allowed kids to dine for free.

The business still operates a Football Cafe in Singapore in addition to two locations in Manchester.

Cafe Football Gary Neville and Ryan Giggs Q&A - YouTube

Winston Zahra, CEO of GG Hospitality, said the firm will look to offer the cafe service at their hotels and at the Manchester cafes.

‘We can confirm that Cafe Football in Westfield Stratford has closed in line with our strategy of not operating stand-alone cafes and focusing on the growth of our hotel business,’ he said.

‘Cafe Football in future will form an integral part of the Hotel Football food and beverage offering.

‘We will not be making any changes to what we offer and the experience will remain purely Hotel Football.’

Author: nhan

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