Coronation Street star Simon Gregson’s company shuts down with £165k debt despite £250k I’m A Celeb pay and soap job

CORRIE star Simon Gregson’s business has gone bust owing £165k to the taxman and a Covid bounce back loan.

The 49-year-old has raked in millions playing Steve McDonald in Coronation Street for the last 34 years while earning a reported £150k-a-year.

But Simon’s media firm Simon Gregson Productions Ltd has fallen on hard times since the pandemic struck in 2020.

The company went into liquidation on November 9 owing £125,002 to HMRC, £35,000 to Coutts Bank for the covid loan, and £5,002 trade and expense creditors, totalling £165,004.

Bounce back loans were handed out by the government to help struggling companies make up the shortfall for any dip in revenue because of coronavirus.

He owes his firm £252,824 by way of a directors loan, with the liquidators currently uncertain how much of that will be realised.

Currently, the business has only £6,000 in cash to pay back the debt.

The popular actor was runner up in the 2021 series of I’m A Celebrity - Get Me Out of Here and supposedly earned a £250k appearance fee.

He later told Good Morning Britain that he did it because "the money is good" and it was "enough to get him out of trouble” comparing the fee to a "solid gold diamond goblet".

Last month, it was reported that Simon and his wife Emma’s cafe at a garden centre in Cheshire was at risk of being closed down.

Morley Nurseries, which is the home of their tea room, is set to be demolished after Cheshire East Council approved planning permission for new homes to be built on the land

Furious over the decision, the Gregsons have been tirelessly campaigning against the proposals, gathering 188 objections to the appllication.

Despite their hard work, the plans for four bungalows to be constructed have been given the green light.

However, one of the nursery managers updated customers on their Facebook page and said that the garden centre is "not closing in the foreseeable future".

Emma took over the quaint cafe in October last year after having a lifelong dream of running her own tea shop.

Speaking to the Manchester Evening News, Simon said: "Sometimes when we're busy I'll help out, but Emma doesn't need or want my help really. I've had a few colleagues in and they'll say 'you're not really taking my order are you?' but I do it more as a laugh.”