A restaurant set up by Man Utd legends Ryan Giggs and Gary Neville has closed after six years – after customers moaned it was ‘just like McDonalds’.
Cafe Football was set up by the ex-Manchester United players for fans to watch games in Westfield Stratford City – 220 miles away from Old Trafford and deep in the heart of West Ham fan territory.
The restaurant, which served football-themed dishes, claimed the closure was because owners sought to focus on its hotel chain.
Diners could eat a ‘Protein Promotion’, including chicken and sweet potato, a ‘Fat relegation’ prawn curry, or a ‘Throw-in’ bag of chips.
If they fancied a drink, there was the option of a ‘Red Devil’ tequila cocktail, or a ‘Half Time Orange’, consisting of vodka and bitters.
But the restaurant did not go down too well with some punters, who said it was too expensive.
TripAdvisor reviewer Sue R wrote: “Very loud, with more children than adults, food portions small, just fast food. Just like McDonald.”
Wills 1653 added: “Re-mortgage your property before eating here. Drinking in a public library would have been more exciting.”
While Deanne W wrote: “We went for afternoon snack just a bit of cake, it was just plain bad.
“Just don’t go and they don’t really care if you like what you get as long as you pay.
“Everything is lovely to look at and clean and doesn’t have the taste to match.
“Hit and miss.”
Fan Franchesca A P had a great time when she visited, because there were so few customers.
She wrote: “Great night. Happy hour was great, we had a whole area to ourselves.”
Just last week, GG Hospitality, the firm behind the cafe, offered a promotion on Twitter where children could eat for free.
The company still has two restaurants in Manchester and another Football Cafe in Singapore.
Winston Zahra, CEO of GG Hospitality, said the firm will look to offer the cafe service at their hotels and at the Manchester cafes.
She said: “We can confirm that Cafe Football in Westfield Stratford has closed in line with our strategy of not operating stand-alone cafes and focusing on the growth of our hotel business.
“Cafe Football in future will form an integral part of the Hotel Football food and beverage offering.
“We will not be making any changes to what we offer and the experience will remain purely Hotel Football.”