Six teams from Shoosmiths work with Revolution Bars Group to exit leases and cut rents

Shoosmiths has acted for Revolution Bars Group to exit five of its property leases – including Lancaster, Wolverhampton and Wood Street, Liverpool - and cut overall rents at four further venues while increasing their terms to 25 years

The Group’s 75 bars in the UK are known for their premium drinks experience plus food and entertainment. Its Revolution brand is focused on young adults, with Revolucion de Cuba appealing to a broader age group.

Shoosmiths drew on its teams from across real estate, banking, employment, property litigation, tax and company secretarial to work with Revolution’s landlord, real estate investment company, Aprirose and its lender who are both based outside the UK. Once detailed terms were agreed, the deal completed in 11 days just before Revolution’s trading update on the London Stock Exchange.

Shoosmiths’ real estate senior associate Christopher George - who along with senior associate Kirsty Chalkley led on the deal - said: “Working with a landlord based in Isle of Man and a lender in Luxembourg, plus the complexities of the timing made for very interesting legal work. I really enjoyed assisting the Revolution team to bring this transaction to a successful close and look forward to continue working with them in the future.”

Group property director at Revolution, Alex Stanhope said: “Thank you to all of the team at Shoosmiths who have each played a part through their legal advice helping Revolution take the best course of action to ensure a great future for our business. As a group property director, their legal advice provided within a quick timescale before our trading update was announced has been invaluable to me.”

The changes to these nine sites will save Revolution Bars Group £1.2 million per year and enable it to continue to adapt to changing customer habits in the leisure sector.