LEISURE

Private equity firm Connection Capital has acquired a small stake in Rosa’s Thai Café from TriSpan which will help Rosa’s target of a UK-wide roll-out over the next five years. Established in 2008 by Alex and Saiphin Moore, the restaurant chain is now run by ex-Wahaca director Gavin Adair as chief executive and former YO! chief executive Robin Rowland as Chairman. The investment will see the chain expand from the existing 17 restaurants mainly located in London to 45 sites that will consist of both restaurants and grab-and-go outlets. 

LEISURE

Abokado, the healthy eating London-based chain, has launched a CVA following a ‘sharp reduction in sales’ and being the victim of a ‘sophisticated’ banking fraud. In a statement the company said they are ‘taking measures to improve performance against prevailing headwinds’ and they hope the CVA will ‘mitigate and/or remove factors to underpin the short, medium and long-term viability of Abokado’.

• The first half of 2019 saw a net decline of 1,234 chain stores on Britain’s top 500 high streets - the highest number since analysis by PwC and the Local Data Company began in 2010
• In total, an average of 16 stores a day closed, as restructurings and the online migration of shopping and services continue to hit the high street
• However, store openings rose by c.4% highlighting the potential opportunities for new entrants as well as established retail and leisure brands

Heightened restructuring activity has seen the half-year net reduction in stores on Britain’s high streets hit record levels according to research by the Local Data Company  and PwC.

The first half of 2019 saw almost twice as many store closures (16 per day) as openings (9 per day). In total, 1,634 stores opened and 2,868 stores closed over the period, leading to a net decline of 1,234 stores (compared with a net decline of 1,123 in the first half of 2018).

On a sector by sector basis, only 15 out of 96 sectors showed a net growth in store numbers, and all but two grew by only a single digit number of outlets: takeaways with a net increase of 26 outlets, and sport and health clubs with a net increase of 17. Meanwhile, the biggest net declines were seen amongst fashion retailers (-118), restaurants (-103), estate agents (-100) and pubs (-96).

LEISURE

Fish and Chip chain Deep Blue Restaurants has acquired Harry Ramsden’s from Boparan Restaurant Group(BRG) in a debt free deal that will see them become the largest player in the fish and chip market by a "considerable margin". They will add to their existing portfolio of 26 sites, located in the south and east of England, with all 34 Harry Ramsdens sites including those in Ireland and Malaysia. BRG said that the deal will “simplify” its business allowing them to focus on Giraffe, Ed’s Easy Diner, Fishworks and the roll out of its’ franchise Slim Chickens that will see the opening of its 5^th site in Brunswick Square with more planned and the hope that their 6^th site will open this side of Christmas.

LEISURE

Blackpool Pleasure Beach’s multi-million-pound regeneration has seen the opening of the £12m Boulevard Hotel. The site will offer 120 rooms including two park view suites and either coastal suites, a 90-seat signature restaurant The Beachside and the Shoreside Conference Centre which will cater for events for up to 200 delegates including weddings.

LEISURE
Food Cooperated bakery café chain, Muffin Break, is to open three new sites this month. The first Dorset site, an 80-cover café in the former Druckers Patisserie unit, will open in the Dolphin Shopping Centre in Poole and will be joined by sites in Hastings, East Sussex and Colchester, Essex on the 29^th August.

LEISURE
Wrapchic, the fusion fast-food chain founded by Mahesh Raikarin 2012, has been bought out of administration in what is understood to be a pre-packaged deal.  At their peak the company operated 27 sites across the UK, but it is understood that there have been issues with some of its franchised sites.

LEISURE

Following the success at intu Lakeside, Upside Down House UK have entered into an exclusive partnership to create the experience at six more intu centres including intu Trafford Centre, intu Metrocentre and intu Braehead.  Each inverted two-storey house will feature a number of upside-down rooms with unique interior and exterior designs to reflect the local surroundings.

LEISURE

On the 20^th anniversary of Travelodge’s presence on the UK coastline the hotel chain has announced 26 seaside towns that they are targeting in what they describe as the “rebirth of British seaside resorts and coastal towns”. Having played a 'pivotal role’ in the regeneration programme in Rhyl and the changing holiday habits of Britons they plan to work with Local Authorities inviting them to participate in their development programme that would see Travelodge building hotels on surplus authority land. The targeted districts are: Aberystwyth, Bognor Regis, Bournemouth, Bude, Canterbury/Whitstable, Deal/Sandwich, Eastbourne, Falmouth, Folkestone, Guernsey, Hove, Jersey, Lerwick, Looe / Fowey, Lowestoft, Newquay, Oban, Penarth, Penzance, Pwllheli, Shoreham-by-Sea, St Ives, Tenby, Truro, Weston Super Mare and Weymouth.

LEISURE

Waka, the Peruvian-Japanese fusion restaurant that originally launched in the City, London in 2017 is to open its second London site near Liverpool Street with a third site already being negotiated.  Brainchild of siblings Irakli and Nino Sopromadze; the concept offers Nikkei cuisine which is a fusion cuisine created by settlers from Japan when they arrived in Peru in the 1800s.