Manchester restaurant rents booming, says Colliers
Restaurant units in the Corn Exchange in Manchester city centre are commanding rents of around £50/sq ft, some of the highest in the city according to Colliers International.
The grade two-listed Corn Exchange is due to reopen in July 2015 following a £30m refurbishment by owners Aviva Investors Property Trust and Queensberry Real Estate. It will be home to 17 restaurants, including Tampopo, Pizza Express, Zizzi, Salvi's Deli and Eclectic Grill. They will be joined by Vapiano, Cabana Brazilian Barbecue, The Cosy Club, Pho, Bar and Kitchen Banyan, Byron Burger, and Wahaca.
Roomzzz Aparthotel was announced last week as the operator for a 114-room hotel.
Elsewhere, the research by the licensed and leisure team at Colliers International identified Deansgate as the preferred location for premium restaurants in Manchester, commanding rents of up to £40/ sq ft, and the Northern Quarter as the preferred choice of independent restaurant operators, achieving rents of £10 to £15/sq ft.
Premises for restaurant operators in the central business district of Spinningfields attracted rents of £35 to £40/sq ft while those at Deansgate Locks, which boasted the highest concentration of food and beverage providers in the city, paid between £25 and £27/sq ft.
Colliers International focused on four clusters of food and beverage providers in Manchester to establish which type of restaurants prefer which locations.
Colin Siebert, director licensed and leisure at the Manchester office of Colliers International, said: "Food and beverage providers are willing to pay top dollar for premises at Corn Exchange because the building is in an outstanding location and has been transformed into a centre for dining – restaurant operators want to be with other restaurant operators in order to attract more business by the creation of a circuit."
He said it had also benefited from Manchester being on the target list of most operators' with high profile openings in the city in 2014 and 2015 including several from London such as Hawksmoor and Burger and Lobster.
Siebert said: "Manchester's licensed circuit continues to thrive with 158 of the 327 units in Manchester currently operated by food and beverage operators. The new mixed-use developments at First Street and Noma will provide further opportunities for growth in the food and beverage offering and overall, the market has never looked brighter."
