Black & Blue launches seventh London restaurant

Restaurant group Black & Blue has launched its seventh London outlet with the acquisition of the Archduke wine bar on the South Bank.

The company, which operates five Black & Blue restaurants across central London as well as Mortimer’s Grill in Bloomsbury, took over the Archduke last week and has reopened it after a week-long refurbishment.

The launch precedes that of the group’s Sweetwater Bar in Marylebone, which is set to open at the end of the summer.

The 300-cover Archduke, which comprises a 6,000sq ft site housed in converted railway arches near the Royal Festival Hall, is divided into a bar and dining room.

It first launched in 1979 and will continue to trade under its original name but will serve a new menu of steaks and other dishes from the grill, which are typical at Black & Blue restaurants. New interiors include green leather banquettes, marble topped tables and new floors.

Black & Blue is the brainchild of Nick Hill and Alan Bacon, who built up the Tootsies burger bar business before selling to Andrew Bonnell in 1999. They opened their first Black & Blue in 2000 in Kensington Church Street.

Nick Hill said the group was looking to further expand in the capital.

“Our expansion plans are on course,” he said. “We are actively looking for sites of around 3,500sq sites in central London.”

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By Kerstin Kühn

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