The Gap has paid £1.5m – one of the largest premiums in recent years – to buy the lease on the H Samuel store on Piccadilly Circus in the heart of London’s West End.
Equivalent to about £180 zone A, the passing rent is £375,000 pa. The US fashion retailer bought the lease from H Samuel’s parent, the troubled Signet group. It runs to December 2010.
Eric Eastman of Michael Peddar & Co, which advised The Gap, admitted that the acquisition had been “painfully expensive”. He added that the retailer had tried, and failed, to buy the lease last year. But he added: “It wasn’t so much a property deal as buying advertising. This site is seen on every postcard of London.”
Even allowing for the exceptional location, agents claim that the deal is further evidence of the strong recovery in the retail market. Sandwich chain Pret a Manger was the underbidder.
Dalgleish & Co, which acted jointly for Signet with Thomas Davidson & Partners, said that its client was “very happy” with the figure achieved.
