Grosvenor Backs Inception Group’s latest expansion

21 January 2022

The experiential hospitality business behind Bunga Bunga, Maggies and Cahoots, Inception Group, is expanding.

Backed by a loan from Grosvenor’s Tenant Investment Fund, the dynamic company founded in 2009 by entrepreneurs Charlie Gilkes and Duncan Stirling, is launching a Mr. Fogg’s at 34 Brook Street, Mayfair in late Spring 2022, a former Balls Brothers site.

The new venue, close to Oxford Street, the Bond Street West Elizabeth Line station and Grosvenor’s recently approved South Molton Triangle development will host a sensational twist to this series of adventurous cocktail bars, based around the life of famed Victorian traveller, Phileas Fogg.

In a first from a UK property company, Grosvenor’s Tenant Investment Fund was established to enable businesses with new ideas and diversification strategies to expand and create jobs at a time when access to traditional bank funding is constrained.

Inception Group is the fourth hospitality business supported by this flexible and innovative financing model. Grosvenor, which partners with over 500 retailers and food and beverage operators in Mayfair and Belgravia, has also supported the launch of JKS Restaurants’ latest venture, Bibi, in North Audley Street, Mayfair and atis, an up and coming salad bar and bowl concept in Eccleston Yards, Belgravia.

James Raynor, CEO, Grosvenor Property UK commented: “The West End is renowned for its world class sense of occasion and fun. Inception Group’s immersive destinations are the capital’s most highly anticipated openings, and their expansion in Mayfair is a huge vote of confidence in the future of central London’s night-time economy.

“Our Tenant Investment Fund is about recasting traditional property owner/occupier relationships. It’s not just a response to the pandemic. We’re looking to challenge the stereotypes and tell the story of a sector investing in society and working with tenants in good faith to find solutions to problems we all face.”

Charlie Gilkes, Founder, Inception Group, added: "Grosvenor has been incredibly progressive in finding ways to support hospitality and retail tenants. With limited funding for new openings in the wake of the pandemic they are enabling growth and new jobs that simply would not have happened were it not for the Tenant Investment Fund.

“The iconic former Balls Brothers site in Mayfair is a fantastic space from which to create a truly exceptional iteration of a Mr Fogg's cocktail bar. Mayfair is changing all the time. Alongside world renowned brands like Claridges and Le Petit Maison, we’ll be opening close to retail and hotel developments like the Rosewood and Biltmore in Grosvenor Square, and the South Molton Triangle development."

Grosvenor approaches each investment opportunity on a case-by-case basis but has the ability to offer a range of partnerships from debt to equity and does not comment on the commercial details of investments.