Revealed: The swanky restaurants and £200k Covid bounce back loan which went missing

A restaurant owner has been banned for ten years after questions of where government funds to help small firms went.

According to the glowing biography on the website for the Olive Tree Brasserie chain of restaurants, the success of the restaurant’s staff is attributed to founder and director Dean Wilson’s “commitment to leading by example”.

Proudly vouching for his vegan and environmentally-friendly credentials, the website explains how Wilson opened his first Greek restaurant in St Annes 2007, with a Preston site following in Miller Arcade in 2014.

The success continued and a Chester branch followed in 2016 and two years later there was another Lancashire site in Lytham (replacing the St Annes one) and a second Cheshire site in Stockton Heath.

But while all those boasts and about ethics and success remain online, Wilson now finds himself banned from running businesses for more than a decade.

The 39-year-old was handed the ban by the Insolvency Service after being caught abusing the Bounce Back Loan scheme at the company’s set up for each of the four restaurants - The Lancashire Lead revealed in its latest edition.

The BBL scheme was set up during the pandemic to help small and medium businesses survive loss of trade caused by lockdown and social distancing measures and allowed firms to receive a low-interest loan of up to £50,000.

This came with conditions including only being able to take a loan from one provider and only using the money for genuine business needs, with the money lent by high street banks and backed by the Government to reduce risk to directors. As a result, huge sums have been left liable to the taxpayer as a result of loans which were never repaid and often fraudulently claimed.

That is certainly the case for Wilson, of Chandlers Rest, Lytham St Annes, and his four Olive Tree Brasserie companies.

In each case, Wilson successfully applied for a legitimate BBL on May 4 or 5, receiving the money in a matter of days. For the Lytham business, a second - and illegitimate - application was made days later, while the same followed for the other three businesses on June 30. Each time, he falsely declared no other application had been made for the same business.

In the meantime, Wilson had already moved significant sums of money from the companies’ accounts into personal ones.

According to the Insolvency Service, he transferred almost £200,000 into his own accounts with no evidence provided that this was done for the benefit of the businesses involved.

In August 2021, less than six weeks after the second £50,000 loan was paid to the Olive Tree Brasserie Preston Ltd, Wilson announced the closure of that restaurant. On the venue’s Facebook page, he wrote:

“It is with a heavy heart that we share the news of the sudden closure of our beloved Olive Tree Brasserie restaurant in Preston. Our other landlords have been great and supported us through the challenges that the restaurant industry has faced due to covid. However, after a difficult 18 months, the ongoing negotiations with our Preston Landlord have sadly come to a disappointing end.

“We would like to thank all of our loyal customers, many of whom have enjoyed the brand over many years as well as our dedicated Preston team for all their hard work and passion in making the Olive Tree Brasserie Preston experience one to remember.

“Thankfully all Preston staff members are keeping their jobs and will be working at our Lytham restaurant. Our Lytham, Stockton Heath & Chester restaurants remain unaffected and are open as usual. We want to assure you that the Olive Tree Brand is stronger than ever and we have an exciting future ahead.”

Since then, a further brasserie has opened under the same name in Leeds but as a result of the sanction Wilson can no longer be involved in running the businesses.

This story first appeared in the Lancashire Lead which lands in email inboxes every Wednesday and Sunday. Help support independent investigative journalism and sign up.