Bar group, Darwin & Wallace has announced the acquisition of its second site as part of plans to create a portfolio of casual bar dining destinations around London. It has taken over The Frog in Clapham in south London, formerly The Frog & Forget Me Not, from operator Livelyhood and plans to refurbish and relaunch it under a new name.
The deal follows the opening in March last year of Darwin & Wallace’s first bar-restaurant, No 11 Pimlico Road, in the former site of The Ebury in Pimlico. The Frog is due to be refurbished and reopened by spring.
The new-look bar will offer an “all-day casual bar dining experience” with “an emphasis on interior aesthetics, a wide-ranging drinks offer including great beers, first-rate service and an accessible home-away-from home feel”. The site includes a roof terrace looking out over Clapham Common.
Darwin & Wallace was set up in 2012 by managing director Melanie Marriott. The company aims to expand with further sites between 5,000 square feet to 7,000 square feet, predominantly in affluent London 'villages' including Chiswick, Chelsea, Kensington, Knightsbridge, Notting Hill, Soho, Fitzrovia, the West End, Hampstead and Haverstock Hill, Camden, Islington and Shoreditch.