British sports cafe owners press on with expansion

Sports Cafe has pressed on with plans to expand the brand despite calling time on one of only three sites currently trading.

Coliseum Group said a Sports Cafe bar and restaurant would open in Newcastle and Manchester this year with six more venues earmarked for 2003.

Finance director Rodger Sargent said: "We are in advanced negotiations for a number of sites. We have feelers out everywhere."

Coliseum bought Sports Cafe for £8m (€13m) in December and has been forced to close an underperforming venue in Cardiff.

Mr Sargent said the Cardiff Bay site had suffered from the fact the area had turned out to be more residential than one for big business and retail.

The group now hopes to find a new location in Cardiff's city centre and in the meantime is overhauling its venues in London and Birmingham for the World Cup.

Mr Sargent added: "This is currently an inefficient way of running a business, having geared up the head office before a roll out.

"But as we roll out to more sites the economies of scale will kick in and the head office costs will be deferred across more venues."

Other towns and cities being targeted by Coliseum are Leeds, Liverpool, Sheffield, Glasgow, Nottingham, Blackpool and Norwich.

The Sports Cafes have hundreds of TV, cinema and plasma screens showing a range of sports, with late licences catering for the club and dance market.