Plans for US-type community bars

Tim Bacon, the founder of Living Room bar and restaurant chain, is to launch a new concept in the West Kirby district of Wirral next month, called the Red Door Neighbourhood Bar & Kitchen.

In a separate move from Living Ventures, Bacon is reuniting with former business partner Dave Hinds, who along with Jeremy Roberts and himself, used to run and own the Via Vita and Life Café chains in the 1990s before Hinds went into property development.

The duo are also looking at other sites for what has been described as "a bar take on a traditional pub" and could expand up to six units organically in the next four years, said Bacon.

He said Red Door, which opens on 18 April, was a smaller site than he was used to developing, being just 2,400sq ft, but the management team were keen to develop a community bar.

Bacon added: "We hope it takes what is good about the pub, the community feeling, and does its job in a bar format. It will have a fresh approach to food and all the other things we are known for." Bacon also said he was using some of the development work on Red Door for a similar project with Living Ventures, to launch in Manchester and Cheshire later this year. Living Ventures, which operates Blackhouse.

Gusto and the recently opened Suburbia nightclub in Hale, has experienced a 9% increase in year-on-year like-for-like sales, with a true like-for-like growth at EBITDA level of 5% in its established Gusto and Blackhouse brands in 2009/10.