Aiden Byrne's plan to open Liverpool restaurant collapses

It had been announced that Byrne was to relaunch The Vincent Café & Cocktail Bar, which he acquired from owners Paul Adams and footballer Steven Gerrard, later this year. However, The Vincent confirmed in a Facebook post on 20 April that this was no longer the case.

It said: “Further to the press release recently issued, and due to unforeseen circumstances, Aiden Byrne and his team will no longer be operating from The Vincent Cafe & Cocktail Bar Liverpool. We are sorry for any inconvenience this has caused.”

Byrne, who recently reopened his Manchester fine dining venue as Restaurant MCR, had planned to relaunch The Vincent as The Metropolitan Bar & Grill Rooms with the backing of Medusa Hospitality. It was to serve a relatively simple grill menu of "classic, honest food, delivered really well by the best team of chefs around".

At the time of the original announcement, Byrne said he had always wanted to open a high-end grill rooms concept.

"The realisation of The Metropolitan Bar & Grill Rooms is a lifetime ambition to pay my respects to legendary venues like The Savoy Grill and The Grill at the Dorchester,” he said.

In a statement, Medusa Hospitality said: “It is with regret that we confirm that we are unable to progress with the deal to acquire The Vincent Café, after undertaking due-diligence.”

Last month it was announced that Byrne would also be collaborating with Chester Racecourse on a new luxury dining concept for the upcoming racing season, which is due to launch in May.