Majestic paid £6.5m to acquire Vagabond Wines

Majestic Wine paid £6.5m to acquire the Vagabond Wines business out of administration, documents show.

The deal saw Majestic buy nine of Vagabond’s bars in London and Birmingham in April, saving 171 jobs.

Vagabond, which offers more than 100 wines by the glass from self-pour machines, appointed administrators Quantuma in March after struggling with debts built up during the pandemic and the loss of its successful Heathrow Airport bar.

The majority of its sites were sold to Majestic, marking the wine supplier’s first foray into the hospitality space.

Vagabond’s remaining two bars at Gatwick Airport were sold to privately-run Airport Retail Enterprises (UK) Ltd for £400,000 in June, according to the administrators’ report.

All 122 Gatwick staff transferred to work under the new owners while the sale saw the return of a £662,000 rent deposit from the landlord.

The administration saw secured creditors, including Coutts bank, paid in full, while there were no employee redundancies.

However, Vagabond’s “underperforming” bar in Canary Wharf was not included in the sale and has since closed.