Drake & Morgan confirms rebrand of two Corney & Barrow sites
The Otherist will occupy 3,700 sq with 120 covers, and open Monday to Friday from late November.
The Pagination is set to open in early December, across 4,400 sq ft, with 84 covers inside and 60 covers outside, open Monday to Saturday.
As with all Drake & Morgan sites, the interior décor will come from design agency Fusion, and will include the group’s signature large bar and mix of seating, including traditional dining tables, banquettes, booths, and lounge seats, as well as an open plan kitchen.
Drake & Morgan – which was founded in 2008 by managing director Jillian MacLean – acquired the 11 Corney & Barrow wine bars in July this year, with a view to converting them into new D&M concepts.
It has also confirmed the opening of The Refinery Spinningfields in Manchester, and The Refinery St Andrew Square in Edinburgh, in late November 2016, plus a second Manchester site, expected in St Peter’s Square, in the first quarter of next year.
Each of the Corney & Barrow sites will be rebranded to D&M with its familiar menus and drinks lists, but will also offer a wide range of wines from Corney & Barrow’s own wine bins.
Acquisitions and expansion
Not including these new sites – the acquisition brought the overall estate to 20 venues ‒ D&M currently runs to 10 own-branded locations across London, including The Refinery at Bankside, The Parlour at Canary Wharf, The Refinery Regent’s Place, and four City sites: The Happenstance, The Folly, The Anthologist and The Fable.
It most recently opened a flagship eponymous site at London King’s Cross, and The Commission at Heathrow T4, in partnership with hospitality management firm Delaware North.
In 2013 it announced it had been bought in a majority stake for £30m by Bowmark Capital, and at the time stated its intention to expand to 70 sites overall across the UK.
Speaking to BigHospitality in late August, operations director Dylan Murray explained that the group was looking forward to growing, as well as taking its brand outside of London.
He said: “We’ve been scaling and getting our team ready for this rollout. That has been keeping us busy. There’s a lot going on in the next few months, a lot of exciting things for the business. With the acquisition of Corney & Barrow, we grew to 20 sites in London alone. But adding our out-of-London developments plus Heathrow, will bring us to 25 come March-April next year.”
At the time of the acquisition, MacLean said: “The acquisition strengthens our presence in the City and we look forward to working more closely with the Corney & Barrow wine merchant business, introducing its fantastic portfolio of wines across the Drake & Morgan estate.”
