Flute to Make Its UK Debut in West End
September 27, 2011
Flute, the New York-based bar & lounge concept, is set to make its debut in the UK by the end of the year, after securing a site on Londons Great Portland Street. The company has taken over the former School Dinners restaurant, which comprises 3,000 sq ft at basement level. Flute secured a new 10-year lease with a rent of £90,000 per annum.
The business, which was set up in 1997 by owner Hervé Rousseau, currently operates two sites in New York and one in Paris. The new site is close to the junction of Oxford Street and nearby operators Yo! Sushi, Vapiano, Benugo, and Apostrophe.
Jonathan Moradoff, Davis Coffer Lyons acted on behalf of the landlord, the Langham Estate. Moradoff, said, Great Portland Street is one of the West Ends clear rising stars in terms of dining locations, and even basement space is now earning very high rental levels. Traditionally it has been Charlotte Street to the east and Marylebone High Street to the west above Oxford Street which have enjoyed the highest values for restaurants in the area, but we are seeing an increasing demand for units across a much broader perimeter, and for Great Portland Street in particular which embodies both the grandeur of Portland Place and Harley Street, and the artistic and independent areas of Fitzrovia.
The news follows a string of recent restaurant lettings on Great Portland Street, including Nandos, which has signed its 250th site at the former Lloyds bank branch this summer. Also on Great Portland Street, POD, the healthy fast food concept, is opening one of six new sites planned for this summer, and Costa Coffee, the Whitbread-owned chain of coffee shops, will be launching one of its next generation style units. The recently acquired Villandry business also occupies a large site on Great Portland Street.
