ETM Group founders seek £4.3m for new bar venture
The new operation, led by Ed Martin and the management team of ETM Group – founded by Ed and Tom Martin – is aiming to open seven new sites across the capital – including a flagship rooftop bar in King William Street.
Maven will use £4.3m in new finance from private equity investment firm Growthdeck, raised as a mix of debt and equity, to fund the refurbishment and reopening costs for the group’s first three bars and restaurants.
Alongside the King William Street site, the business is also in advanced negotiations for two further venues.
The news from ETM comes after the launch of Valiant Pub Company in January – by Gerry Carroll and Mark McGinty, co-founders of Hawthorn, and James Croft, former group strategy and retail director at Ei Group – as well as the Rooney Anand fronted, American backed, RedCat Pub Company.
As reported by The Morning Advertiser, RedCat acquired 42 pubs from Stonegate Pub Company for an undisclosed sum at the end of March
‘Significant growth’
According to an update from Growthdeck, where lease premiums were once common on the most sought-after sites in the capital, some landlords are now offering lengthy rent-free periods to operators in order to avoid void periods on key sites – creating an opportunity for operators to secure desirable sites in central London on favourable long-term leases.
“Covid has pushed rents on bars about as low as they will go,” Gary Robins, head of business development at Growthdeck said. “The London bar scene has exploded back into life in the last few weeks.
“We’re backing Maven to deliver significant growth for our investors as revellers flood back into central London’s premium bars.”
“Sites are being offered at rents that could not have been dreamed of 15 months ago.”
Robins added that Growthdeck’s investment in Maven is based on its strong belief in the London bar market, Ed Martin and the ETM management team.
Founded in 2000, the ETM Group started with a single pub in Clerkenwell, in central London.
Over the past 18 years, the company has grown into an award-winning business with 14 sites across London.
“ETM has built a group of London pubs, bars and restaurants that are the envy of the industry,” he continued. “The reopening of the leisure industry is an opportunity for them to do that again, but in a far more favourable property market."
