Vagabond to refurbish Battersea Power Station bar amid festive boost

Wine bar business Vagabond has revealed plans to refurbish its London Battersea Power Station bar after it reported record festive trading.

Vagabond toasted a 16.3% jump in like-for-like sales during the six weeks to 23 December after having hosted more corporate Christmas events “than ever before”.

Food sales also rose by 26.2%, buoyed by the introduction of a new cheese fondue sharing platter, which led to 1,000 fondues being sold weekly during the month of December.

Meanwhile, sales for Vagabond’s Urban Winery doubled year-on-year during the period.

This was also the bar operator’s first Christmas under new owners Majestic Wine, which paid £6.5m to acquire the business out of administration in April last year.

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

Since then, Vagaband has outlined plans to open new wine bars and invest in its existing estate. This will include the month-long revamp of its Battersea Power Station bar, which will continue to offer more than 100 wines for guests to self-pour once it reopens on 28 February.

The refurbishment will increase the capacity of the venue from 112 to 156 through the removal of Vagabond’s Urban Winery, which will be relocated to a new London site later this year.

Christobell Giles, managing director at Vagabond, said: “I am incredibly proud of the entire Vagabond team for delivering a record-breaking Christmas. We took more Christmas party bookings than ever before in a challenging hospitality market, and introduced hundreds of new guests to our eclectic mix of wines and expert teams for the first time.

“We’re taking strong trading momentum and exciting growth plans into 2025, starting with the refurbishment of Vagabond Battersea. This is a significant investment in one of our most popular bars, underlining the confidence that we and our owners Majestic have in the future of experiential hospitality venues.”

Vagabond was founded by entrepreneur Stephen Finch in 2010 as a small local wine shop in Fulham before growing into a wine bar business.