Brisbane hospitality entrepreneur Damian Griffiths is facing personal bankruptcy

BRISBANE hospitality entrepreneur Damian Griffiths is facing personal bankruptcy after receivers seized control of two of his prime venues and he defaulted on a loan from relatives.

Brisbane hospitality entrepreneur Damian Griffiths is facing personal bankruptcy.

BRISBANE hospitality entrepreneur Damian Griffiths is facing personal bankruptcy after receivers seized control of two of his prime venues and he defaulted on a loan from relatives.

NAB appointed Anthony Connelly and Jamie Harris from McGrathNicol as receivers and managers last Saturday over the two trading companies running the Limes Hotel and Alfred & Constance bar.

Mr Connolly would not divulge how much NAB is seeking to claw back but it’s understood the Limes Hotel mortgage alone is worth about $4.3 million.

“There appear to be a large number of creditors, including suppliers of stock and equipment, along with various taxes,’’ Mr Connolly said.

He said the Fortitude Valley venues, which are both owned by Griffiths-controlled companies, would remain closed during the holiday period but reopen in mid-to-late January before being sold as going concerns.

Mr Griffiths said NAB asked him to hand the keys back after a District Court ruling last week which ordered him to repay $557,704 to his aunt and cousin. It was the balance owing on a $1.35 million loan used in part to acquire the Limes Hotel in 2014.

Mr Griffiths acknowledged in court that he had missed payments even as he attacked the lawsuit as “calculated and cruel’’ and claimed it stemmed from “a long-running family dispute’’.

“My aunt and cousin immediately issued a bankruptcy notice the following day (after the judgment), giving me no room to move,’’ he said this week. “All I required from them was extra time to resolve the matter. However, they would not oblige, resulting in more than 100 staff losing their jobs.

“Our primary goal was to seek enough time to be able to sell the property, clear the debts and ensure everybody was paid.’’

Both properties have been on the market for many months without success.

Mr Griffiths attempted to sell the Limes Hotel in 2015, while Alfred & Constance has been for sale since late 2016.

Meanwhile, Mr Griffiths has kept other venues operating, including the Doughnut Time chain and the Les Bubbles bar and restaurant in Fortitude Valley.

The Australian Taxation Office launched legal action on November 15 to wind up his entity Bubbles Bar & Bistro Pty Ltd over an alleged debt of $423,491. Griffiths is fighting the matter, which returns to Federal Court in early February.

But 12 days after the ATO lawsuit was filed, corporate records show Griffiths’ group CEO, Dan Strachotta, registered a company called Les Bubbles Restaurant Pty Ltd.

He is the sole director and owner of the entity, which is now running the Parisian-style bistro in a building notorious for its prior history as a brothel, massage parlour and bathhouse in the 1970s and 1980s.

Mr Strachotta bought the business from Griffiths’ entity Bubbles Bar & Bistro Pty Ltd, which formerly operated the venue but has now collapsed under external administration. Mr Griffiths appointed David Orr and Richard Hughes from Deloitte as administrators on December 22.

Creditors are scheduled to hold their first meeting on January 8.

Mr Hughes could not say this week how much was owed to creditors or how many parties are chasing debts. But he confirmed that the sale of the Bubbles business to Mr Strachotta would be one of the matters investigated.

Mr Strachotta, who is also a director of multiple Doughnut Time-related companies, did not return calls seeking comment this week.

Earlier this year, Mr Griffiths, a 45-year-old former immigration lawyer, closed his Kwan Brothers and Alfredo’s Pizzeria outlets, which adjoin the Alfred & Constance venue.

Mr Griffiths put his New Farm home on the market last month and it’s expected to change hands for well over $1 million if a deal is done. He bought it in 2009 for $800,000.

He also owns a home in Surfers Paradise, acquired for $1.225 million in mid-2015.