Bottom Line, the retailing arm of Brutus Jeans, have sold their 18 shop units over the last year for a total of £750,000. Conrad Ritblat advised the firm, who had decided to move out of the retail sector.
Two units were bought by W H Smith for their Sounds FX subsidiary: 58 North End, Croydon, held where the lease runs until September 1992 at a rent of £29,500 pa, reviewable in 1987; and 22 Kings Mall, Hammersmith, held on a 25-year lease running from 1978, reviewable every five years, at a current rent of £16,250 pa. Smiths paid a £115,000 premium for the two units.
Another shop, at 268 Oxford Street, W1, was bought by a chemist for £170,000. The lease here expires in 1997 and the rent is £128,000 pa, reviewable in 1990. Sweby Cowan acted for the purchasers.
Lunn Poly Travel, represented by Brian Dadd, bought two units, paying £56,000 for 53-55 The Parade, Swindon, where the lease was subject to review, and £15,000 for 16 Albert Street, Nottingham. Here the passing rent was £31,000 pa.
In Reading, Bottom Line sold two leases: 70-72 Broad Street to Our Price Records, and 25 Queen Victoria Street. Our Price paid £65,000 for the unit, which has 1,200-sq ft on the ground floor. The lease runs until March 2007, reviewable in 1987, and the current rent is £50,000 pa. The other unit changed hands for £10,000.
Other disposals were in Basildon, Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Cheltenham, Chester, Exeter, Leeds and Southampton.
