Rare Restaurants confirms closure of two London venues
The restaurant group says it is looking to optimise its portfolio, with new openings lined up for the Gaucho brand in Covent Garden, Liverpool, and Cardiff, amid plans to accelerate expansion.
M Victoria opened in December 2015 following the success of the debut M Restaurant on Threadneedle Street.
CEO Martin Williams recently said that the business has appointed Clearwater International to assess the group’s 'strategic options'.
A spokesperson for Rare Restaurants commented: “Rare Restaurants continually monitors and optimises its portfolio. We have not renewed the leases at two of our sites - one in Victoria and one in Smithfield Market – as they no longer meet our criteria [and therefore will be closed].
“With like-for-like growth across our estate running at 24% and three new sites opening this year, including a Gaucho in Covent Garden, we are looking forward to a strong year. All our team have been offered roles elsewhere within the group.”
Further expansion planned
The closures come amid a period of growth for the restaurant group, which opened a 200-cover restaurant in Liverpool in November last year (pictured above). It also recently opened the doors of restaurant, bar and private members club M Canary Wharf, which is located in the 220-metre residential skyscraper known as the Diamond Tower.
The group is this month opening its first site in the north east with a Gaucho on Pilgrim Street in Newcastle. This will be followed by the launch of a 220-cover restaurant on Bridge Street in Cardiff in May.
Gaucho will also open its first London restaurant in more than a decade having secured the former Wahlburgers restaurant on James Street in Covent Garden.
The announcement of the openings follow what Gaucho describes as ‘a record-breaking year’ with double digit earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) on turnover for the past year of £73m, up from £55m.
“I’m delighted to announce a wave of new Gaucho openings across the UK, particularly our first London opening for over a decade,” Williams said at the time.
