Coliseum expanding its Sports Cafe chain

Sports bar and restaurant operator the Coliseum group is expanding its newly acquired chain of Sports Cafes.

The group has signed 25-year leases on sites in Manchester and Newcastle and expects to open Sports Cafes there by August and October respectively.

Chief executive Bill Balkou said the group was identifying a number of potential sites in major cities in the UK and was looking at sites in London, Cardiff, Leeds, Liverpool, Sheffield, Glasgow, Nottingham, Blackpool and Norwich.

He added that it wanted to buy similar operators and to expand abroad through joint ventures and franchise agreements.

Coliseum bought Sports Cafe in December 2001 for £8m. It currently operates three restaurants in London's Haymarket, Cardiff and Birmingham.

In its first full-year of trading, to 31 December 2001, the group reported a pre-tax loss of £1.6m on a turnover of £6.8m.

Included in the pre-tax loss was a write-down of £1m related to the relocation of the group's Cardiff Bay Sports Cafe, which it plans to move after it failed to meet expectations.