Hartford toasts Jamies deal

HARTFORD Group, owner of the Damien Hirst-designed Pharmacy bar and restaurant in London's Notting Hill, has bought City wine bars operator Jamies for £4.6m. The deal will be funded in Hartford shares, while the buyer will also raise £1.4m in a share offer underwritten by Investec. Jamies has 17 bars but has suffered at its media-industry hangout in Soho's Poland Street.

Joint managing directors and Jamies founders Roger Preece and David Colbeck will quit. Their 7% stake will be transferred into Hartford shares.

Hartford chief executive James Kowszun said it would put some of the laid back aspects of its Wimbledon venue, Common Room, into the Jamies sites. 'I hope this is the first of several deals,' he said.

Hartford's shares fell 1/4p to 2p.