Revolution agrees action on struggling sites
Revolution Bars Group has surrendered leases on four of its under-performing North West bars and renegotiated the lease on a fifth, with two properties put up for sale.
Revolution Fallowfield, a 7,900 sq ft venue on Wilmslow Road in Manchester’s student area, closed its doors this month and is on the market for £1m, according to London-headquartered agent Fleurets.
A 10,600 sq ft grade-two listed site off Penny Street in Lancaster ceased operating in 2014 and has remained empty since. Landlord Aprirose has surrendered the lease and placed the property on the market for £650,000.
Revolution will continue to trade at its 6,550 sq ft site on Oxford Road in Manchester under a revised 25-year lease but the building is being sold by Aprirose with a guide price of £2.5m.
A site in Macclesfield, owned by a private landlord, and in Liverpool, for which Aprirose is the landlord, closed in August and November 2019 respectively, and Revolution has agreed to surrender those leases.
The update on regional sites came alongside news of lease regearings in other UK sites, including Leicester, Huddersfield and Newcastle-under-Lyme, and a closure in Swansea – the site ceased trading last year.
It comes despite the group recording record sales during the festive period for the seventh consecutive year, according to a trading report published in January.
In the trading update Rob Pitcher, chief executive of Revolution Group, said: “Considerable strides have been made in rebuilding customer loyalty and driving sales and profit from the existing estate, creating a stronger business with significant cash generation.
“While external cost pressures persist, we will continue to manage cautiously, using excess cash to reduce indebtedness below one-times EBTIDA before we will consider further expansion opportunities.”
Pitcher has previously said the group intends to open new sites in the second half of the next financial year.
