The hospitality and leisure industry spans numerous sub-sectors including hotels, pubs and restaurants, travel, sport and gaming, all of which are sensitive to the regulatory landscape, technical innovation and consumer confidence.
With mounting pressure to evolve innovatively and deliver quality and value in a highly competitive sector, the industry is increasingly engaging more with its consumers on a multichannel basis through social media and mobile technologies.
Our Hospitality & Leisure Group understand the challenges facing all participants in this sector. We regularly advise developers, operators, owners, landlords and investors – from start-ups to prestigious hotel groups and Michelin starred restaurants – on a range of legal services including Corporate, Real Estate, Commercial and Intellectual Property.
We are passionate about helping our clients to grow their businesses, and have expertise across a wide range of areas from brand development and acquiring or leasing property to employing staff, and negotiating with suppliers, clients or customers.
Services
- Brand protection and exploitation
- Franchising and management agreements
- Commercial contracts
- Raising finance
- Acquisitions and disposals
- Company structuring
- Regulatory advice
- Reputation protection
- Real estate
- Employment
- Tax
Experience
- Currently advising more than 300 hotels across Europe on claims against Visa and MasterCard for the recovery of overpaid multilateral interchange fees.
- Advised International Hospitality Service AG, the owners of the Spenglers hotel in Davos, on its transformation into a Hard Rock Hotel. This involved working closely with the client throughout lengthy negotiations of the franchise and related agreements.
- Representing a hotel owner on the negotiations with Mandarin Oriental of the LOI, management, technical services and licensing arrangements for a new luxury hotel and residences.
- Acting for a hotel group on the negotiations and agreements for a MARCO PIERRE WHITE franchised restaurant within the hotel.
- Acting for Canouan Resorts Development Corporation Limited in relation to the buyout of a joint venture partner and new joint venture arrangements relating to the ownership and development of the Island of Canouan in St Vincent and the Grenadines.
- Advising Chelsfield Partners on the sale of two central London hotels managed by Club Quarters for £180 million. The freehold assets in St Paul’s and Gracechurch Street cover 204,000 sq ft and comprise 468 luxury bedrooms and seven retail/restaurant units.
- Advising Manhattan Loft Corporation on the Chiltern Firehouse restaurant and hotel in Marylebone, which was redeveloped in a joint venture with New York hotelier Andre Balazs.
- Acting for Minor International (MINT) on the purchase of a 75% stake in Benihana Holding Pte Ltd, a leading Japanese-inspired teppanyaki restaurant chain with 2 owned restaurants in London and 17 franchised restaurants in Europe, Asia and the Middle East.
- Representing pub companies, restaurants and franchises on various interchange fee claims, including currently advising over 700 franchisees of the Subway fast food chain.
- Advising Busaba Eathai on its restaurant franchising arrangements in the Middle East and on brand protection matters.
- Advising on the launch of MNKY HSE, the acclaimed new high-end Latin American restaurant and bar multi-concept, including the structuring of the company's assets and its trade mark protection strategy in the US and UAE, among other territories.
- Advising a listed operator of food and beverage outlets and restaurants in train stations and motorway locations around the world on their franchising of owned brands into the Middle East.
- Acting on the master franchise arrangements for Telepizza outlets in London.
- Representing landlord Trophaeum in relation to a number of restaurant and hospitality lettings including: Oswald's, the new private members club from Robin Birley in Albemarle Street, Mayfair; a private members club for Gleneagles in Mayfair's Grafton Street; and The Ivy Café, St John's Wood.
- Advising D&D London on the agreement for lease for a new rooftop restaurant on the 14th floor of the 120 Fenchurch Street development, beneath a public sky garden.
- Acting for the owners of an iconic London ice rink and bowling alley on the contractual arrangements and negotiations for the Meat Liquor burger chain to open and operate within it.
- Advising Sunshine Capital on the acquisition of the Coal Bar & Grill chain from Beringea, Octopus and management.
- Acting for Capco on a lease to a well-known restaurant chain.
- Acting for a high end French patisserie tenant on the acquisition of their flagship store in Covent Garden.
- Advising the owners of a well-known nightclub on the franchising of their nightclub concept in Milan, India and Brazil.
- Advising Kerb on their agreement with Camden market for the management and curation of the market's street food market.
- Acting for Novikov Restaurant Group on its lease of 50 Berkeley Street in Mayfair, Russian restaurateur Arkady Novikov's first foray into the London restaurant scene.
- Acting for the owners of the Soho Gyms Group on the sale to PureGym, which plans to convert the Soho Gyms sites into the PureGym format through a rolling refurbishment programme.
- Acting for Piper PE in respect of its investment in fashionable fitness studio, Frame.
- Advising Triyoga, a multi-site chain of studios for yoga and pilates classes, on a growth capital investment led by Argyll Partners.
- Acting for Encore Capital with respect their investment in Third Space Gyms.
- Acting for Third Space Gyms on corporate and IP matters.
- Advising Boom Cycle on a £2 million fundraising. The proceeds will be used to expand the Boom Cycle chain, including the opening of a new branch at Battersea Power Station.
- Representing Gymbox on its programme of new gym openings.
- Advising on equity investment into Boom Spin.
- Advising on the MBO of Hillgate Travel being acquired by Inflexion backed Reed and Mackay.
- Advising the management of Direct Ferries, the world's largest online ferry ticket aggregator, on the buyout backed by LivingBridge.
- Advising on the MBO of On the Go Tours, backed by Alcuin Capital.
- Advising Cineworld on its acquisition of five cinemas from Empire and the sale to Empire of the Cineworld Haymarket cinema.
- Acting for Golfbreaks on the purchase of Xclusive golf, a company owned by Sarah Stirk of Sky Sports fame. Xclusive golf supplies personalised and high end golf trips.
- Acting for Delancy on the sale of 185 Park Street to J&T Real Estate. The site, adjacent to the Tate Modern, has planning consent for three buildings for exhibition and educational space for the Globe Theatre, along with retail, residential and offices.
- Advising luxury sportswear brand Lucas Hugh on a $2.5 million incoming investment by Hold it all Inc.
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