Darts bar and pizza chain heading to Birmingham

Two London lifestyle brands are set to launch in Birmingham.

Darts bar The Flight Club and sourdough pizza chain Franco Manca have signed up to leases in the city centre.

Commercial property consultancy FHP has secured the Midlands venues for the brands.

FHP has let three floors at 13 Temple Street to Flight Club. The darts venue launched its first venue in Shoreditch in 2015, and has branches in London’s Bloomsbury and Chicago.

Franco Manca has agreed a 15-year lease at 19 Bennett’s Hill, the vacant former home of Nationwide Building Society. It will convert into a Neapolitan-inspired restaurant. The sourdough pizza specialist has more than 40 outlets across the UK.

This is a return to form for Birmingham city centre which saw four restaurants close down recently, including Amantia, Rodizio Rico (which has now reopened following a deal with their landlords) and Pinocchio at The Mail Box. One of the restaurants that closed, Amantia, has been replaced with another pizza restaurant – Rudy’s pizza.

Doug Tweedie, FHP director and head of Birmingham office (pictured) said: “Despite a backdrop of recent negativity, Birmingham’s bar and restaurant scene continues to go from strength to strength and now genuinely competes at the highest level with other major UK cities.

“The Flight Club deal was a highly complicated transaction involving five different parties but having found a structure that works for everybody, I cannot wait to see it open this summer.

“Temple Street has transformed significantly over the last few years and leisure rents have doubled, although we see no reason why rents should fall below the current tone given a shortage of supply and little let up in demand.

“In addition we saw a significant amount of interest in the Bennett’s Hill property, receiving over six offers. I have no doubt we picked the right operator in Franco Manca which will deliver a very high quality product and fit-out.”

FHP opened its first West Midlands office at 122 Colmore Row in Birmingham in February this year. It has five offices located in Nottingham and Derby.

Click here to sign up to receive our new South West business news...
Close