Italian restaurant closes as company undergoes restructuring

by Lisa Reeves

Thursday 18^th September 2014

Thu 18^th Sep 2014

An Italian restaurant in Wilmslow closed at the weekend.

Strada on Water Lane, which opened in 2008, served its last customers on Saturday, 13th September.

Tragus, the parent company that owns the restaurant chain, is currently being restructured and declined to comment on the closure.

In June, Tragus announced that Zolfo Cooper Corporate Finance had commenced a marketing exercise for Strada and anticipated that a sale would be completed by the end of the summer.

According to The Times Sun Capital Partners, the private equity firm which turned PizzaExpress around, is set to purchase the Strada brand and up to 40 restaurants from the Tragus Group, which also owns the Café Rouge and Bella Italia chains.

The premises at 22-24 Water Lane was previously occupied by MacDonald's.

Tags:: Strada

Comments

Here's what readers have had to say so far. Why not add your thoughts below.

Chris Hall

Thursday 18^th September 2014 at 2:03 pm

Wow - 3rd shop to go in a week !!!

Oliver Romain

Thursday 18^th September 2014 at 6:58 pm

Again sorry for the staff, but this was a fast food outlet disguised as a restaurant. Pre-prepared food banged in the microwave. The staff were lovely, but after it became apparent it appeared to be microwave food I went off the place. If customers want microwave food they can go to a supermarket.
Nowadays customers expect to see an open kitchen where the freshly prepared food is there for all to see.

Jon Williams

Friday 19^th September 2014 at 9:02 am

It would make a nice Burger King

Simon Worthington

Tuesday 23^rd September 2014 at 7:19 am

Strada was very good until around June last year when economy measures were applied to portion sizes. The pizzas went from very good to very poor overnight and the staff were often embarrassed at the food they had to serve, quoting head office. This restaurant with bland décor and very poor provision for children was doomed from the start and I am surprised it lasted so long. However the landlord (probably absentee) and, of course the tax collectors, will have done nicely.

Debra Conroy

Tuesday 23^rd September 2014 at 1:19 pm

The food served here was appalling and it is no surprise that it has closed down. It was always empty.
I would like to see a Nando's in Wilmslow. Yes it is a chain restaurant but it serves good quality food at reasonable prices and appeals to a lot of people. Great family dining experience without having to travel to Didsbury. I am sure it would be popular with students from the High School too both at lunchtime and after school.

Richard Holman

Tuesday 23^rd September 2014 at 4:04 pm

I hope the comment about Burger King has been made tongue in cheek! We also don't want Nandos or any other chain nor indeed the overblown operations in Alderley Edge. We need a nice restaurant serving good English cuisine at reasonable prices.

Steve Savage

Friday 3^rd October 2014 at 8:58 am

Heaven forbid we have a place open where people might actually go and enjoy themselves eh Richard?