Big Beat pubs to be run by Mean Fiddler Group
Bar operator Big Beat Group has been sold for about £20m to a team of leading entertainment entrepreneurs.
The estate, which is made up of 21 pubs, clubs and restaurants, has been bought by a consortium headed by Vince Power of the Mean Fiddler Group, which organises music events.
Mr Power carried out the deal through an acquisition vehicle, called Finlaw 279, which was set up with the owners of Hanover Grand nightclub in London and other partners.
Big Beat went into receivership in April with debts of £30m after its flagship nightclub, Home in London's Leicester Square (see picture), was forced to close. It temporarily lost its licence because of police complaints about drugs on the premises.
Liquidator Blair Nimmo, of accountancy firm KPMG, agreed a deal with Finlaw 279 after receiving 450 expressions of interest and 123 offers.
Mr Nimmo said: "Having traded the business for over four months, we are delighted to have found a buyer for the entire portfolio.
"Big Beat has a strong portfolio of licensed premises and we are confident that the new owners have exciting plans to develop the business."
Finlaw 279 has awarded the contract to manage the bars, clubs and restaurants to the Mean Fiddler Group.
Mr Power established the group in 1982, and is now the leading music festival and venue promoter in the UK. It runs the Fleadh and Reading festivals, the Jazz Café in Camden, North London, and the Astoria music venue in London's West End.
This week, Mr Power's internet company, Meanfiddler.com, will acquire Mean Fiddler Holdings in a reverse takeover worth £33.5m.
The enlarged group is also raising £8m to fund its European expansion, which is likely to include new sites for its Jazz Café.
Big Beat was founded by Ron McCulloch. It employed 600 people and had an annual turnover of about £26m.
Its bars included Cul-de-Sac in Aberdeen and Glasgow's Southside and West End, Oblomov in Glasgow's Merchant City and Southside, the Attic in the Merchant City and Southside, Church on the Hill in Southside, the Ettrick in Partick, the Mercantile in Dundee, Merlin McFly's in Coatbridge, the October Cafe in Glasgow's Princes Square shopping centre, Ruby's in Irvine and Millers Thumb Restaurant and Microbrewery in Anniesland, Glasgow.
In 1999, Big Beat was highly commended in the multiple operator category of the Publican Awards while its Nottingham nightclub Media was named nightclub of the year in last year's Flavour Awards.
Mr McCulloch has moved to Australia and, with a business partner, has bought Big Beat's Home nightclub in Cockle Bay Wharf in Sydney's Darling Harbour.
Related stories:
Home nightclub is put on the market (May 10, 2001)
Big Beat in receivership after drugs crackdown (April 11, 2001)
Big Beat boss plans to fight Home revocation (31 March, 2001)
London club loses licence (5 April, 2001)
Update on Meanfiddler.com's acquisition of Mean Fiddler Holdings:
Big Beat buyer abandons plans for takeover (23 August, 2001)
