PizzaExpress chiefs move to curry

THE former directors of PizzaExpress who teamed up to form restaurants investor Clapham House have bought a classy south London Indian restaurant with a view to making it one of the biggest restaurant chains in the capital.

Chairman David Page, who brought PizzaExpress to the stock market in the 1980s, said the Bombay Bicycle Club would prove popular enough to open 40 restaurants and takeaway stores across the capital in the next two years. The 20-year-old business has an upmarket restaurant south of Clapham Common and five delivery centres with kitchens in south London. The Bicycle Club's sellers are thought to be Julien Cahn, Dabeedil Sawuck and Manjit Shihn.

The deal, for £1.8m and £575,000 in further payments, follows Clapham House's purchase in December of the Real Greek mezze restaurants chain. Page, whose chief executive is former PizzaExpress finance director Paul Campbell, today announced the appointment of Sarah Willingham, another ex-PizzaExpress executive, as managing director.

Willingham will buy 9.5% of the equity in the Bombay Bicycle Club as a performance incentive. Page is looking to develop chains of 40 or more restaurants in specialist food sectors. He has identified noodles, burgers, Indian and mezze-style cuisines as target sectors.

He raised £15m when he floated the group on the Alternative Investment Market as City fund managers sought a way of backing his ideas rather than let venture capitalists share the spoils.