Peyton and Byrne, the catering company responsible for restaurants and cafés in many of London’s most prominent museums, including the National Gallery (pictured), has gone into administration after two loss-making years.

The loss of key contracts with Kew Gardens and the British Library was apparently the final straw for the company, which was founded by Oliver Peyton in 2006.

Its remaining catering contracts have been taken over by the French giant Sodexo, while the five London bakeries will be reconstituted as a separate company. All 440 jobs in the company are said to be safe.

Several of the P&B outlets at cultural institutions have suffered damning comments from the Harden’s Survey in recent years, including the National Gallery restaurant – “lovely space, shame about the food” and “atrocious” service. Service at the Wallace Collection was described as “erratic and lacklustre”, while the Keeper’s House at the Royal Academy was “fairly ordinary” and the service “novice”.