The founder of Chinawhite is taking over the former Dover Street Wine Bar in Mayfair, W1, to launch a new restaurant concept.
A joint venture between Marc Merran, co-founder of nightclubs China-white and Movida, and leisure entrepreneurs Boris Kofman and Saul Lewin, has agreed to take over the 8,000 sq ft site on a new 25-year lease.
Average restaurant rents in Mayfair are £90 per sq ft.
The restaurant, called MNKY HSE, will have a late licence, live music and DJs. The founders are refurbishing the former property hang-out ahead of its planned September opening.
It will be themed as a fusion of Latin America and London and will be spread over two floors, with a bar and lounge on the ground floor and a restaurant, cocktail bar and sushi lounge downstairs.
The old Dover Street Wine Bar was one of the West End’s most famous evening haunts for more than 35 years. The restaurant closed in 2014 when its owner, Cypriot businessman George Stavrinou, passed away.
MNKY HSE will be one of a string of new venues to join the culinary line-up in Mayfair, following the arrival of Caprice Holding’s Sexy Fish in the former NatWest Bank on Berkeley Square, and Alan Yau’s Park Chinios on Berkeley Street.
The new entrants to the market have pushed rents up, making it too expensive for some restaurants.
The Princes Garden on North Audley Street recently sold the remainder of its lease to Richard Caring for £2m.
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