Taunton café bar becomes third Mambo venue

Bar, restaurant and entertainment group Mambo has snapped up Millers Café Bar in Taunton, Somerset.

The café is housed in a Grade II-listed building that is part of the gate house that was added to the Saxon Taunton Castle in the 15th century.

It comprised a main bar on the ground floor and a first-floor bar/restaurant with 32 seats and an adjoining 24-seat function room/dining room. A two-bedroom maisonette on the top two storeys provides accommodation for owners or staff.

Outside, the café had a 24-seat front roof terrace, a second area to the rear, and a 48-seat trade garden.

The new owners operate Mambo units in Exeter and Torquay and will shortly add new venues in Exeter and Plymouth

The new Mambo Taunton will be run by the previous management team along the same lines as Mambo Harbourside in Torquay, which serves a mix of Thai and English dishes and provides a DJ each night.

Mambo has refurbished the trade areas in the Taunton premises and boosted seating to more than 150 by incorporating the pool room into the restaurant.

It is also upgrading the outside trade terraces to provide more than 100 seats.

A new late licence now allows the business to trade to 3am (or 2am on Sundays), with the entertainment ranging from Latino to jazz nights.

Stonesmith of Exeter was asking around £850,000 for the freehold on behalf of CI Traders.

By Angela Frewin