02 - Retail - London NW3, Finchley Road
Date: 25 Jun 1998
Four more leading names in the restaurant sector - Capital Radio's Radio Cafe, Yo! Sushi, Old Orleans and My Old Dutch - have signed up for units at 02, the 27,156 sq m (292,308 sq ft) leisure and retail scheme which is being developed by Burford Group next to the Finchley Road in London NW3.
The signings mean that there is just one unit available in the three-level scheme which is due to open in October (1998). 02 is anchored by an eight- screen Warner Village Cinema, an Esporta Health & Fitness Centre, and a 7,435 sq m (80,031 sq ft) Sainsbury's supermarket. The latter is located on the lower ground level of the centre which, by dint of sloping site, has its main entrance facing onto the scheme's 561-space surface-level car park. Books etc. is the other retail anchor within 02 'S main building.
Radio Cafe, Yo! Sushi, Old Orleans and My Old Dutch join a line-up of restaurant and cafe traders that already includes Babe Ruth's, Dome, Greene King and Ed's Easy Diner. A 3,818 sq m (41,061 sq ft) Homebase DIY and garden store will be located on a stand-alone site at the western end of the scheme at the other side of the car park.
Rents of up to £377 per sq m (£35 per sq ft) have been achieved within the centre. The latest signings have all been for 25-year leases.
Radio Cafe is taking a 752 sq m (8,100 sq ft) unit on the scheme's Finchely Road level next to the entrance. This will be the second Radio Cafe in London for Capital Radio Restaurants Limited. Its first, located on the ground floor of the radio station's headquarters in London's Leicester Square, has been a massive hit with customers and was voted Theme Restaurant of the Year earlier this year in the third annual Carlton London Restaurant Awards.
Yo! Sushi will open what is its third London-based restaurant on the upper level of the scheme. Yo! Sushi, which was founded by entrepreneur and former rock music stage designer Simon Woodroffe in 1997, will occupy a 195 sq m (2,100 sq ft) unit. The unit will be diagonally opposite the Warner Village Cinema and will have frontage onto the centre's impressive, 30-metre diameter themed central destination space.
The Yo! Sushi concept has proved highly popular. Customers, who sit either on bar stools or in booths can select dishes that pass by on a custom- designed conveyor belt built into the counter. Four-foot high mobile robots (which can talk) serve the drinks.
At 02 YO! Sushi is planning to create a restaurant operation with around 100 seats and a 56-metre long conveyor belt - making it the world's second longest conveyor belt sushi bar (after its Poland Street outlet).
Old Orleans, a Scottish & Newcastle brand format, will trade from a 652 sq m (7,020 sq ft) unit which is located in the heart of the scheme at Finchley Road level. The restaurant, which will be adjacent to Books etc. and Dome, will also open onto 02's impressive 35-metre diameter central destination space.
My Old Dutch has acquired a 232 sq m (2,500 sq ft) on the upper level adjacent to Yo! Sushi for its family-oriented pancake house and creperie. This will be the company's fifth outlet in the UK.
Comments Duncan Phillips of Burford:
"We are delighted that Capital Radio Cafe, Yo! Sushi, Old Orleans and My Old Dutch have decided to join the dynamic line-up of leisure and retail tenants already destined to open at 02. Their decision to take units at the centre emphasises the strength of this location as one of London's best new leisure developments. I'm sure they will prove to be particularly exciting leisure destination experiences - providing customers with a 'theatre of activity' within their offer."
Comments Simon Woodroffe, founder and managing director of Yo! Sushi:
"This is the first step in expanding Yo! Sushi outside the city centre. It is a step towards the countrywide and worldwide expansion of the Yo! brand. The reason that we chose 02. as our North London site is that we believe that it is by far and away the most innovative and imaginative of any leisure and retail schemes yet conceived in the South of England."
Capital Radio's Radio Cafe was represented by James Andrew International (0171 224 4436). Jackson Criss (0171 495 2888) represented Scottish & Newcastle Yo! Sushi and My Old Dutch represented themselves. Letting agents for 02 are Healey & Baker (0171 629 9292) and Chase & Partners (0171 331 6999) and restaurant consultants Shelley Sandzer & Co (0171 580 3366).
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