Darwin & Wallace, the new all-day dining bar restaurant concept backed by the Imbiba Partnership, has acquired The Ebury in London’s Pimlico from Enterprise Inns, for its first site.
Imbiba, which also backs Drake & Morgan, said that The Ebury will be re-launched at the start of next year after a refurbishment as an a new all-day, casual bar dining experience with an emphasis on “interior aesthetics, fresh, scratch-cooked food and first rate service” as well as a wide-ranging drinks offer. Target spend is between £25 and £30 per head with food accounting for around 40% of sales.
Once The Ebury is established, Darwin & Wallace aim to grow the business with further sites between 5,000sq ft to 7,000sq ft predominantly in affluent London ‘villages’ including Chiswick, Chelsea, Notting Hill, Camden, Islington and Shoreditch.
Darwin & Wallace is led by former Mitchells & Butlers brand manager Melanie Marriott. She said: “We are delighted to have found the perfect opportunity with The Ebury site to launch Darwin and Wallace. The property is in a wonderful neighbourhood location and will be a strong setting from which to launch our new creation. We hope to create an original, stylish and comfortable bolt-hole. The space will aim to appeal throughout the day and into the evening, to both locals and a wider audience alike.”
Imbiba is currently looking to raise £10m through a new round of fundraising as it looks to develop its new concepts – Darwin & Wallace and Camm & Hooper (C&H).
The company, which recently raised £3m to open the first sites under the concepts, hopes to secure the new funding through a further Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) that has a current closure date of 29 March 2013.
It is believed to be close to also securing its first site for C&H.
Both will be operated separately from Drake & Morgan, which is currently in the process of growing its openings pipeline and generating private equity interest.
Davis Coffer Lyons acted on the Ebury deal.
