SEVERAL companies associated with a former restaurant have now been formally dissolved.

The Custom House restaurant and later Cibo operated in Abbey Road in Barrow.

But now a number of companies associated with the restaurant have formally stopped trading.

It follows the Custom House tenant Liam Quigley being evicted from the historic building after the owner claimed it had fallen into disrepair.

According to Companies House, TCH Restaurant Ltd has now been formally dissolved.

Several other companies associated with the restaurant were dissolved on Companies House last year.

They include Cibo Ltd, Barone Ltd and TCH Playzone Ltd.

Dissolving a company is a formal way of closing it.

Mr Quigley, the former director of the Custom House restaurant, has signalled his wish to move on from the business and take up new ventures.

He took over the restaurant in 2018 and later opened a cocktail bar in the building.

He also used the building for his other business ventures.

Speaking out after being evicted, Mr Quigley said running the restaurant was a 'learning curve'.

He said: “I’m glad to see the back of the place. £250k is an insane amount of money to spend on a building that I’ve abandoned, and it’s been lost - but it’s a learning curve.

“If that’s what it costs me to learn to never do this again then so be it.

“I feel some sense of achievement out of it – more personal stuff. My family used to meet there every Sunday for the amazing roast dinners."

In May 2020, Mr Quigley announced he had collapsed his Custom House company and resigned as its director due to the 'uncertainty' brought on by the coronavirus crisis.

The Custom House has been owned by Rob Rollings and his wife since 1999 but they have not been directly involved in the business since 2014.

In 2018, the Custom House, a listed building, received a blue plaque as part of a new heritage trail to mark historic buildings across Barrow.

The Custom House is said to have started life as the Imperial Hotel in 1867 but failed as a business venture and was sold in 1872 - becoming a post office and customs base.