Nightcap acquires Barrio Familia for £4.9m

This included four Latin American-inspired, Tequila-led cocktail bars in London, trading under the Barrio brand alongside a 60s themed members’ cocktail bar, trading under the Disrepute brand in Soho.

The deal included a net cash amount of £3.6m and £1.3m in shares.

Barrio Bar Group was founded by Ferdie Ahmed in 2007, who will continue to work for the group via a 12-month consulting agreement, which the parties may agree to convert to full employment after six months.

Deal details

The Nightcap board believed the Barrio bar brand captured a growing demand for Latin-inspired, Margarita and Tequila-focused bars, and has significant roll out potential.

As a result of the acquisition, the board is expecting the group’s result for the 53 weeks ending 3 July 2022 will be significantly ahead of current market expectations.

The Barrio Bar Group’s head office, which is in the basement of the Barrio Shoreditch site, has also been acquired in accordance with the deal.

Nightcap acquired Adventure Bar Group in May​ this year, for an undisclosed sum and bought London Cocktail Club​ at the beginning of 2021.

Nightcap CEO Sarah Willingham said: "I am absolutely delighted Nightcap has acquired Barrio Familia, which includes Barrio's four Latin American-inspired cocktail bars and the '60s themed members' cocktail bar, Disrepute.

Significant potential

She added: "When Nightcap was founded, one of my goals was to acquire a bar group that has the potential to maximise on the winning combination of Margaritas and Tacos - a personal favourite of mine! Over the past year, Nightcap has closely observed the significant growth of the Tequila market with great interest, and we believe this acquisition has significant potential for UK-wide expansion.

"Nightcap has been fortunate enough to have had a strong first year, and we are so pleased to be heading towards the end of 2021 with another fantastic concept in our portfolio. As always, we would like to thank our stakeholders for their continued support, all our amazing staff, and our wonderful customers for continuing to bring their energy to Nightcap's bars. We look forward to providing further updates regarding our plans for Barrio Familia!"

Barrio Bar Group’s unaudited sales for the year ending 28 March 2021 were significantly impacted by Covid restrictions.

Since the reopening of indoor hospitality on 17 May 2021, the group had a rise in sales by a quarter (23%) in the 13 weeks to 26 September 2021 compared to 2019.