The owners of the Jongleurs comedy club brand are in negotiations with major pub companies to open almost 30 new venues using its name across the country.
The move comes after Regent Inns, which held a licence to operate eight Jongleurs clubs following a multi-million pound deal in 2000, went into administration last month.
John Davy, who co-owns the brand with Maria Kempinska said: “Regent Inns’ administration was a trigger event that was a breach of their licence conditions.
"In effect they lost their right to name their venues Jongleurs. It now returns back to me and I am talking to a few majors about whether they would like to sit in Regent Inns’ shoes and take over the national licence.”
Davy declined to reveal which pubcos he was in talks with, although some of the UK’s biggest operators are thought to be involved.
A deal could see the creation of two new franchises by the end of the year, 15 in 2010, and another 10 in 2011. Most of the venues are expected to be new-build.
Davy said that he and Kempinska had decided to approach the major pubcos because it would allow them to expand more quickly.
“It’s a matter of speed of roll-out," he said. "If we can do the right deal with the right food and beverage partner we can bring in the expertise for shows and media and join that with the appropriate expertise of a major.
“Comedy is on an absolute roll," Davy added. "You can’t turn on the TV without seeing another stand-up show and comedy viewers drink a lot of beer and this will differentiate their offering in the high street, as opposed to having just another bland bar.”
It is still unclear as to which ownership model Jongleurs would pursue. “We can do wholly-owned venues or we can do partnership deals," Davy said. "We’re not really sure which way we are going to jump.”
Regent Inns is now trading as Intertain, following a pre-pack administration. Its clubs will no longer have the right to use the Jongleurs name from 2 January.
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By Neil Gerrard
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