The Daily Telegraph - Saturday
Vagabond wine bars saved from collapse by Majestic rescue deal
MAJESTIC WINE has bought the wine bar chain Vagabond in a rescue deal after it collapsed into administration.
Vagabond, which sells wine by the glass at a string of upmarket outlets in London and Birmingham, had run into financial difficulties after costs soared and its best-performing site was forced to shut.
Majestic, which runs more than 200 stores across the UK, said the deal would help it gain traction with younger wine drinkers and that it planned to open more bars.
Nine of Vagabond’s 12 sites will be saved with the deal, protecting 171 jobs, but the company’s venue in Canary Wharf and two sites at Gatwick Airport will close. It is understood there is separate interest in acquiring the leases of its Gatwick locations.
Founded in 2010 by Stephen Finch, Vagabond is known for offering a “pour your own” wine system in its bars, selling wines by the glass from dispensers which control the temperature of the alcohol, preserving them for as long as two weeks. Users pay by swiping a precharged card. The company also makes its own wine at an “urban winery” next to London’s Battersea Power Station. Grapes for its production are sourced from vineyards close to the city.
Sales in its bars rose by 224pc to £7.4m over the year to March 27 2022 as customers returned after the pandemic, the latest available company accounts for Vagabond show, but it made a pretax loss of £859,625. The acquisition comes on the back of a turnaround push at Majestic since the high street wine retailer was bought by the private equity firm Fortress in a £95m deal in 2019, splitting it from the online retailer Naked Wines.
At the time, Majestic had been struggling amid fierce competition from the supermarkets. However, since the deal it has reestablished itself on the high street and opened a string of new stores. John Colley, the chief executive, told
The Telegraph in an interview last year that he wanted to open as many as 50 new stores over the next few years, as he vowed to double down on bricks and mortar retailing.
“[Majestic] has gone from a company losing money, turning over circa £300m, to making more than £380m and investing significantly every year,” he said at the time.
Mr Colley said: “The completion of this deal marks the start of a long-term partnership and we are committed to investing in the Vagabond business, with the potential to open new wine bars across the UK when the right opportunities arise.”