No Saints seeks £2.1m for growth

No Saints, the leisure group run by ex-Luminar boss Stephen Thomas, has launched a new round of fundraising for a further £2.1m towards its continu-ing expansion.

The company, which has already raised around £5.2m through two previous fundraising processes, is seeking to raise the £2.1m via Hotbed, the Milton Keynes-based private equity syndicate that uses the finances of high net-worth individuals.

It is thought the new funding will partly help with the expansion of new brand Wonder.

As revealed by the Publican's Morning Advertiser last month, the company, which opened its first site under cabaret concept the Greene Room in Milton Keynes in May, is set to launch three varieties of the Wonder format — Wonder Lounge, Wonder Land and Wonder Years.

Wonder Lounge, a cocktail bar concept, will be launched in Banbury in July, with further sites in Sevenoaks and Woking set to follow. Wonder Land is a nightclub concept, which will open its first site in Sutton.

The four new sites were acquired from a number of different, unnamed parties.

Finally, the company is currently searching for a first site for the Wonder Years concept, which is billed as a retro disco bar, with Maidenhead mooted as a possible first location.

Thomas said that he hoped to open up to 10 sites under the new Wonder formats before the end of the year.

The Wonder brand joins the Greene Room, Chicago Pizza Pie Factory, Jam House and Arena in No Saints' portfolio of already open and planned formats.

Thomas hopes to open a second Greene Room, probably in Cambridge, before the end of the year and has secured a site in Bristol for his first Chicago Pizza Pie Factory.

The company has recently taken on a former Barracuda Bar in Derby that is currently being operated "as a straightforward bar operation".