RICHARD Caring's restaurant empire eked out a rise in sales in 2017, but profits at the Ivy owner were dragged back by soaring business rates.

Filings for Mr Caring's Caprice Holdings, which owns the Ivy in York's St Helen's Square (pictured below) and also includes upmarket London haunts Daphne's and Sexy Fish, show that turnover nudged up 0.8 per cent to £67.7 million in the year to December 31 2017.

York Press:

Like for like sales were up 2.1%, driven by strong performances at Daphne's, J Sheekey and The Ivy, which was boosted by its 100th anniversary year.

Pre-tax profit was up from £8.7 million to £9.2 million, but adjusted earnings - a more closely watched benchmark - fell from £12.4 million to £11.1 million.

Operating profit fell from £8.7 million to £7.2 million.

The group said it was stung by "well publicised cost increases in a number of key areas for the hospitality industry", including wage costs and "significant increases in both rent and business rates".

Nevertheless, the board described the performance for the year as "satisfactory" and "creditable" in a tough market.

A spokesman added: "Sales in our restaurants showed good growth with individual sites growing by up to an incredible 11% and an overall increase of two per cent on like for like sales across the Caprice Group in what are very challenging market conditions with huge rises in business rates and rent.

"This year, we will continue to go from strength to strength across the groups, offering everything from casual to fine dining."

Mr Caring also owns Mayfair nightclub Annabel's and restaurant chain Bill's, which has a restaurant in Coney Street.

York Press:

The Ivy in York (pictured above) opened its doors in Dcember 2017.

The casual dining sector will be hoping for a better year than 2018, which was marred by several high-profile store closure programmes and administrations that affected the likes of burger chain Byron, Prezzo and steak eatery Gaucho.