Dome restaurant chain is sold off

THE Dome restaurant name is to disappear from the High Street, months after the chain was put on the market.

The French-style chain of cafe bars was put up for sale by its owners, Laurel Pub Company, in June.

Laurel was created by Morgan Grenfell Private Equity from its £1.65 billion purchase of Whitbread's entire pub estate in March.

Laurel had hoped to sell the 14-strong chain to a single trade buyer, but instead had to sell the outlets individually.

The deals are expected to be completed this week for undisclosed sums. But Laurel is holding on to four of the largest Dome cafes, most of them in central London, and is rebranding them as part of its Casa bar chain.

Meanwhile, Laurel chief executive Ian Payne hit out last week at speculation over the future of the company.

Financial Mail revealed recently that talks between Laurel's owners and Pubmaster over a potential £800 million sale of Laurel's 1,870 leased pubs had broken down.

But Payne, who has always denied that Laurel is up for sale, said: 'We are not troubled or beleaguered.'