THE AGENTS

Andy Frisby

Fleurets Associate

Talk of the impending smoking ban and rising interest rates seem to be having little effect on demand for licensed

properties in central London.

Much has been made of the smoking ban and few could criticise licensees for becoming consumed by the predicted

"impending doom", spread by some opinion-makers. We have to ask ourselves whether it was any different ahead of the drink-driving ban when many predicted the end of rural pubs.

Simply put, no! This is a resilient trade and one that has learned to roll with the punches. There's no disputing that we are likely to come across a number of purchasers who are keeping their powder dry and watching the impact of the ban, but on a daily basis we are talking to new operators that see the ban as an opportunity.

We need look no further than the last couple of weeks to see what little impact all the negative talk in the market is having on the UK's capital. In this time, we've handled the

letting of a landmark pub, the Perseverance in London's Lambs Conduit Street, as well as the sale of the company that owns boxbar, London's premiere gay venue, which sold off an asking price of £500,000. Both properties exceeded

market expectations and only benefited from pavement

outdoor seating.

The Perseverance has long had a reputation for being an excellent gastropub, but reputation isn't everything when it's time for a licensed business to be sold. Crucial, however, is the ability of the agent to place the property in front of the right potential purchasers, to create the maximum interest for the vendor - no more obvious than in the "fever pitch" surrounding the sale of the Perseverance. We had 36 separate parties view and 17 quality operators bid for this opportunity.

The boxbar is an award-winning gay bar in Monmouth Street, nestled between Covent Garden and Soho. Having enjoyed 13 ground-breaking years at boxbar, our client was looking to sell his interest by way of a company sale and move onto a new challenge in Spain. However, his partner of 10 years, who managed the day-to-day operation, wished to remain with the business, as did most of the staff.

Sensitive to the brief, we set about a marketing campaign to target those suited to this type of venue and quickly established a list of interested parties. Boxbar was sold to Frank Kaszynski and Nadir Suleman who intend to invest in the premises with some aesthetic refurbishment to make boxbar more opulent and bring it into a new era.