Bel and the Dragon restaurant chain sold for £6m

Gourmet Holdings, formerly Madisons Coffee, has underlined its shift away from coffee bars and into the restaurant market with the acquisition of three Bel and the Dragon pub-restaurants for up to £6.28m.

The three restaurants being acquired are at Cookham and Windsor in Berkshire and Godalming, Surrey.

Their combined turnover was about £3.9m in the year to 28 February and net pre-tax profit was about £100,000.

The restaurants serve "contemporary European food" and have 290 seats between them.

Bel and the Dragon was founded in 1997 by Michael and Andrea Mortimer.

A fourth restaurant in Reading will be retained by the founders and will continue to trade under the Bel and the Dragon name under a license granted by Gourmet Holdings.

Gourmet Holdings will pay an initial sum of £5.95m, including the repayment of bank debts of about £2.3m.

A further £375,000 is payable depending on how the restaurants perform in the future.

Gareth Lloyd-Jones, chief executive of Gourmet Holdings, said: "The acquisition of Bel and the Dragon is a key step in the repositioning of the company."

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