THE Crab & Lobster restaurant and Crab Manor Hotel are under the ownership of a new company after administrators completed a multimillion-pound pre-pack deal.

The business, based at Asenby, near Thirsk, along with the popular Trenchers fish and chip shop in Whitby, fell under the leisure group made up of Vimac Group, Vimac Estates and Vimac Trading.

The group, owned by Paul Mackings, was struggling with debts of £15 million following earlier acquisitions which had since ceased trading.

On December 16, last year, Gerald Krasner and Andy Haslam, of Begbies Traynor, were appointed as joint administrators to the group and immediately completed a pre-arranged sale of Trenchers and the Crab & Lobster to Kymel Trading Ltd, also owned by Mr Mackings.

Mr Mackings is believed to have paid £4.5 million to buy the two restaurants under Kymel Trading, with administrators now seeking to sell two former nightclub properties based in the North East and owned by the group.