Yasmeen restaurant opens in St John’s Wood!
We are delighted to advise that Yasmeen are now open at 1 Blenheim Terrace, St John’s Wood.
Lewis Craig acted on the sale of the former Italian restaurant to Yasmeen, who are a high quality Lebanese restaurant. Yasmeen have undertaken a complete refurbishment of the entire space, including their fantastic raised outside terrace overlooking the beautiful suburb of St John’s Wood.
Nando’s at MK1 Leisure Park
Nando’s, have opened their fifth restaurant in Milton Keynes. The unit, comprising some 4,000 sq ft, is located at MK1 the new fashion and leisure park located alongside the Milton Keynes Dons stadium. Lewis Craig represented Nando’s in the acquisition process.
MK 1 has an impressive line-up, with occupiers on the leisure side including Pizza Express, TGI Friday’s, Frankie & Benny’s, Prezzo and Chimichanga as well as a state of the art 11 screen Odeon Cinema. The fashion element of the development houses brands including Marks & Spencer, Primark, River Island, H&M and Outfit.
The MK1 development adds to existing operators established in and around MK Stadium, including DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel, with IKEA and an Asda Supercentre located closeby.
INITO In To Spitalfields
Acting on behalf of Malletti Pizzeria, Lewis Craig have successfully disposed of the lease at 31 Bell Lane E1, being part of the Prodigy-Living Spitalfields development, to Indian urban street food operator INITO.
A high level of interest was received for the premises from a wide range of restaurant operators both niche and established names. INITO bring further cuisine diversity to the development, complementing existing operators Pizza Union and Japanese Canteen.
Coffee Republic appoint Lewis Craig
Lewis Craig have been appointed by Coffee Republic to assist their growing number of UK franchisees in securing new sites.
Coffee Republic currently operate 4 Company Bars, including Bluewater Shopping Centre, with 16 UK franchises, including Marble Arch and Wood Green, with a further 4 franchises opening by Mid Feb 2015, and the franchise division is on target for a minimum of 20 plus new franchises, by the end of 2015.
In addition to operating in the UK, Coffee Republic have a growing international presence, with 19 Bars operated by Master Franchisees in South Africa, Jordan, Kuwait, Vilnius International Airport Lithuania (opened in September 2014) Pakistan (Lahore and Islamabad opened in 2013), Romania and Lanzarote Airport in the Canary Islands (opened in August 2014), Qatar (in the prestigious Pearl Development in Doha opened in December 2014), and the latest International Bar due to open in Oman in February, with discussions underway with several other prospective international master licence operators.
Pure Taste’s London Opening
Having represented Pure Taste on the acquisition of their new restaurant premises at 115 Westbourne Grove London W2, Lewis Craig wish every success to founder Holly Redman and her business partner Adib Bamieh.
Pure Taste is the Uk’s first Palaeolithic and specialist “free- from” restaurant offering a unique fine-dining experience for those following specialist diets and those becoming increasingly interested in healthy great tasting food.
Holly Redman, the founder and driving forces behind the venture is a nutritional therapist, chef and chemistry graduate. Holly initially set up Pure Taste as a pop-up event in a 50 cover fine dining restaurant in Haywards Heath and enjoyed considerable success, resulting in the project being taken to the next level to establish a permanent home for Pure Taste.
L’Osteria Ready for UK Expansion
Lewis Craig are delighted to be representing L’Osteria with their UK expansion plans. L’Osteria is a reasonably priced casual dining experience serving exceptional pizza and pasta.
The plan is to establish the first restaurant in Central London offering 5,500/7,500 sq ft, ideally providing for 150/200 covers along with a bar area. Future expansion will be in major cities and university towns across the UK.
L’Osteria is a well established brand in mainland Europe, opening their first restaurant in 1999 and currently operating 45 restaurants across Germany and Austria.
L’Osteria will be owned and operated by L’Osteria UK (a joint venture between Prashant ‘Pru’ Naik and L’Osteria Austria). Managing Director and owner, Pru Naik, brings to L’Osteria’s management team over 30 years of experience in the hospitality and restaurant industry.
Pru has successfully led businesses ranging from logistics to multi-unit restaurants. Until recently, Mr. Naik owned and operated 25 McDonald’s restaurants in Central and West London, making him the largest McDonalds UK franchisee.
Please click here for the property requirement flyer, and do get in touch with Theo Benedyk or Richard Grossman to discuss further.
NY Fold – Pizza like it oughta be
With 10 restaurants in the New York area, our client Bruno DiFabio is coming to London with NY Fold, an exciting new brand designed for the UK. Bruno has vast pizza and food industry experience and legendary celebrity status in the USA.
Lewis Craig acting as retained property advisers, have been given the brief to secure premises suitable for the first restaurant to open ideally in the next 3 to 4 months, with exciting plans to grow the brand during 2015/2016.
Born out of the old school genuine love and art of pizza making , the hallmark feature is the tossing of the tough, with NY Fold being all about theatre, performance and showmanship. Original New York pizza characteristics are a full-bodied crust with a bread-like consistency and extremely flavourful.
Areas under consideration include Spitalfields, Liverpool Street, Shoreditch, London Bridge, Soho, Camden, Clapham, Putney and similar profile locations. The space will ideally comprise 1500/2500 sq ft, although smaller opportunities considered in higher footfall locations.
Please speak to Richard Grossman with any interesting ideas.
Indian Gastronomy comes to Weybridge
Lewis Craig acquires Shiraz Ali’s latest restaurant at No.7 Temple Market, in Weybridge, Surrey. Lewis Craig negotiated a new sublease from the former tenant Gondola group.
Shiraz has taken the Indian restaurant scene in Surrey by storm, having already operated Addlestone’s Mystica restaurant for several years. No.7 opened at the end of June, and has already received tremendous praise for their Indian gastronomy.
Since early April 2014, Shiraz and his team have been designing something rather special for Weybridge, we are delighted they have now opened for business, and we wish them every success.
Shiraz Ali comments, “Theo Benedyk and the team at Lewis Craig were highly instrumental in assisting us acquire and negotiate the terms of the lease on our new restaurant. We were impressed with the level of professionalism and bespoke service offered to us.”
Just Falafel continue to falafuel the UK!
With over 40 restaurants trading Globally, our client Just Falafel is right on track in keeping with the trend of more and more people on the move looking for a healthy alternative to fast food.
Just Falafel have exciting plans for the UK, with 2013 alone seeing the opening of their first six UK restaurants. The sixth opened in December 2013 at 7 Fulham Broadway (see below). Comprising approximately 700 sq ft at ground floor with a similar sized basement, in an excellent location adjacent to a shortly to open Wholefoods, and close to Fulham Broadway Station.
The seventh restaurant opened last week at 104/106 South Street, Romford. Several further locations are currently under negotiation, please click here for Just Falafel’s Property Requirements flyer.
Please contact Theo Benedyk at Lewis Craig for further information.