PEOPLE
"We travelled to Asia to look for inspiration" Jillian MacLean, founder, Drake & Morgan
J
illian MacLean, the founder and managing director of London bar and restaurant business Drake & Morgan, is preparing to open two
further venues over the next year, bringing the portfolio to seven. The 8,000sq ft, 230-cover Happenstance bar and restaurant is due to open in St Paul’s, London in autumn 2013, offering views of St Paul’s Cathedral, a bar, a deli, a pri- vate dining room, an open kitchen, a florist and a mixology table. The second, as yet unnamed venue,
will cover 10,000sq ft, and will offer 478 covers over three floors. It will be located at the Sixty London office development in Holborn and will fea- ture a kitchen and bar, a deli, a florist and a cheese and wine room. It's due to open by the start of 2014. They are both being designed by Fusion Design & Architecture.
“We've travelled to Asia, in par- ticular Hong Kong and Shanghai, to look for inspiration for the design and offering,” says MacLean. “We'll be launching our cookery school at our venue at Sixty London and our flower and deli shop, Bottle and Blooms. Hopefully we'll give customers some delightful surprises in terms of design, food and drink." MacLean launched Drake & Morgan
in February 2008, with the first venue The Refinery, opening in Southwark, London. The company now has five venues, all in the City of London. The aim, says MacLean, is to make each venue individual, and to offer custom- ers a personalised experience – these range from art exhibitions to mixology sessions and butchery classes. MacLean was previously oper-
ations director for Novus Leisure, and before that worked for the Spirit Group, Tattershall Castle and Mitchells & Butlers Plc. In 2001, she was short-listed for Veuve Cliquot Woman of the Year, and won the Outstanding Entrepreneur Award at the Women 1st Shine Awards. “There was a gap in the market
for a fresh, independent, neighbour- hood all-day bar and restaurant with great design and good attention to detail,” says MacLean of her decision to launch the company. The biggest challenge, according to MacLean, was “finding the right sites. That continues to be a challenge for us as we like fairly large units in com- mercial districts.”
Details:
www.drakeandmorgan.co.uk
The most recent venue, The Drift (left) opened in June 2011 in Heron's Tower in Bishopsgate, London
10 Read Leisure Management online
leisuremanagement.co.uk/digital ISSUE 1 2013 © cybertrek 2013
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