City Diary

Loungers looking for 30 sites by 2013​

Loungers, the 10-strong neighbourhood café bar group based in the south-west, is set to add eight new sites by the end of 2010 as it expands away from its Bristol base. The company, which was founded in 2002 by Alex Reilley, David Reid and Jake Bishop, has started work on a new site in Southampton. It also now has two new venues lined up in Birmingham, three in Bournemouth, one in Plymouth and a second site in Southampton. The eventual aim is to have 30 sites by 2013. Loungers, which has a turnover of £6.5m and has no fewer than five outlets in Bristol, has expanded by converting unlicensed sites. Venues are located in busy secondary shopping districts, where the population tends to be a mix of young professionals, families, locals and students. There are also three Lounges in Cardiff, plus sites in Bath and Reading. The business was founded with £30,000 of equity and the three founding partners still own 90% of the business. It has a remarkably low rent to turnover percentage on account of the decision to convert unlicensed prem-ises. Decor is described as "reclaimed eccentric" and has reminded observers of the Realpubs style of operation in London villages. Managing director Reilley said: "We've got a great concept and customers do genuinely use the word love to describe their feelings about the Lounges. "We're child-friendly, and have board games, daily newspapers and magazines, a community book swap and free community notice board. "Our kitchens serve food from 9am in the morning until late in a seven-days-a-week offering."

Glendola sells Octave to Market Cafe​

Glendola Leisure, the managed operator of bars, clubs and restaurants, has sold the Octave jazz bar and restaurant in Covent Garden to Market Café for an undisclosed sum, off an asking price of offers in excess of £100,000. The father-and-son team behind the Market Café company also run Fuel in the Covent Garden Piazza and plan to launch the newly-acquired site as a party venue called Tambourine. The 5,000sq ft site on Endell Street will be converted into a 150-cover restaurant and bar with actors as waiters set to provide entertainment such as dancing on tables. Property company Selsian, set up by former DCL consultant Steve Bagatti, handled the acquisition. Glendola operates 22 sites including des Vins café and wine bar in St Pancras, the Star & Garter wine bar in Putney and the Rainforest Café.

Banks blamed for PBR collapse​

The Reuben brothers have blamed the banks behind Premium Bars & Restaurants (PBR) for their failed take-over and the subsequent collapse of the company. The property entrepreneurs denied suggestions they were responsible for failure of the deal by attempting to renegotiate the price, insisting the company's banks, led by Royal Bank of Scotland, were to blame. In a statement Simon and David Reuben said they believed that "senior lenders have frustrated any conceivable opportunity to keep the business trading as a viable entity". The business was yesterday placed with administrators at BDO Stoy Hayward, who immediately closed three outlets — Living Room venues at Chester, Glasgow and Islington — and are seeking buyers for the remaining 45 sites. The billionaire brothers confirmed that their final offer had been "revised" in terms of capital structure, but that the value had been close to their original offer of about £50m. It is thought they had asked the banks to roll over less debt into the acquisition vehicle — they planned to buy PBR via a pre-pack administration — in light of a sharp decline in trading in the past eight weeks. The Reubens said that they could still acquire some of PBR's assets if BDO decided to break up the company.