Urbium buys Covent Garden bars from Spirit

Late night operator Urbium has agreed to buy two high profile central London venues from Spirit Group.

The outlets, both in the destination Covent Garden area of the West End, are the Long Island Iced Tea Rooms in Upper St Martin's Lane and Bar 38 on the corner of Garrick Street and Long Acre.

Tiger Tiger owner Urbium said the cost of acquiring and refurbishing the venues will be approximately £3.8m.

The Long Island outlet, which has a 3am licence, will be closed upon acquisition, expected next month, and redeveloped into Urbium's West End bar format, re-opening in November.

Bar 38, which has an 11pm licence that should extend to midnight on the second appointed day in November, will be re-branded immediately as a 'classical bar in the Urbium format'.

Urbium chief executive Steve Richards said: "These two venues are amongst the best to come on the market in central London for some time.

"Both are located in landmark sites in a location that has one of the highest footfalls in the West End. There is substantial potential for strong all day and late night trade seven days a week.

"They will significantly increase our presence in the busy Covent Garden area and compliment our existing 17 strong West End portfolio."

A spokesman for Spirit said the bars were not part of the package of town centre outlets the group is currently considering offers for, with the sale to Urbium simply "part of the normal process of buying and selling pubs".