Irish restaurateur Padraic Frawley is planning to build an estate of up to 20 pubs in London after securing a second site in the capital.
Frawley, who owns the Cornstore restaurants and a number of independent venues on Ireland, is expanding his East London Pub Company with the acquisition of the freehold 50 Clapham High Street.
The group, which currently owns the Ten Bells in Spitalfields, has submitted a planning application for extensive refurbishment of the lower ground, ground and upper floors to create a night-time venue during the week, with all-day dining at the weekend.
Frawley said he intended the acquisition to be the first of many for the group, which is overseen by operations director Bradley Lomas.
Frawley said: “We are also looking for up to 20 units situated in core high street London locations.
“We were attracted to Clapham because of the prime south London location; there is an opportunity to create something more interesting required on the bar front to match the current restaurant offering in the area.
“We want to do something that will still be steeped in old fashioned values in terms of it being a good boozer, like The Ten Bells, but also with a good wine and food list.”
Salvatore Di Natale, of CDG Leisure, who brokered the deal, said: “Although we represented the freeholder in this transaction, East London Pub Company has now instructed CDG Leisure to be its retained advisor.”
