The Portobello Pub Company, an operator of pubs with rooms, has acquired the London-based, neighbourhood bar-restaurant business, Darwin & Wallace.
Darwin & Wallace – which boasts seven venues in key London neighbourhoods including Battersea Power Station, Clapham Old Town, Wimbledon and Richmond – will continue to operate under the same name.
The acquisition means the enlarged Portobello Pubs business now comprises 27 sites, including 57 bedrooms, based across London and the South-East.
There are plans to further grow the group, including the Darwin & Wallace collection, via selective acquisitions.
Darwin & Wallace was founded by Mel Marriott in 2012, backed by leading private equity firm Imbiba and approximately 200 smaller individual shareholders, via the government’s Enterprise Investment Scheme.
The deal will see Marriott step down from day-to-day operations, with the enlarged group led by Richard Stringer, managing director of Portobello Pub Company. The rest of the existing Darwin & Wallace senior team will remain in place.
Mark Crowther, chairman of Portobello Pub Company, commented: “This is a fantastic acquisition for Portobello, bringing an extremely successful and high-quality business under our umbrella. It represents a fantastic opportunity for us to blend our existing high-quality estate of pubs and restaurants with a collection of truly excellent and premium high-street hospitality venues.
“Mel and her team have done an extraordinary job in creating and building the business over the past decade, and we’d like to thank her for trusting us to be careful custodians; we are looking forward to taking Darwin & Wallace to the next level. We’d also like to thank the teams at both Imbiba and Zetland for supporting this deal, enabling us to start this exciting new chapter at Portobello.”
Marriott added: “I am incredibly proud of what we’ve built at Darwin & Wallace and am immensely grateful to everybody who has been a part of this journey. While it’s the end of an era for me, what we have created is truly special and I am looking forward to watching the business continue to flourish under the stewardship of Mark, Richard and the Portobello team.”
