Hammerson has signed leading café and lifestyle brand, EL&N Café, for its Midlands debut at Bullring.
The addition of EL&N supports Hammerson’s strategy to enliven its assets through new occupiers, brands and concepts and underpins a wider initiative to bring in more restaurant and dining options to the Birmingham city centre retail and leisure destination.
The ‘most instagrammable café in the world’ has taken nearly 8,000 sq ft of space at Bullring, located on bustling New Street and adjacent to Zara, including an expansive 20m double height frontage.
The café has rapidly built an international following after opening its inaugural photogenic café in London’s Mayfair and subsequently expanded across the Middle East with cafés in Doha, Kuwait City and Dubai as well as in Europe in Milan and Edinburgh. The restaurant has since become synonymous for its intricate floral displays and pink décor, which will be brought to the new lavish Birmingham café.
The hallmark for EL&N Café, which stands for Eat, Live and Nourish is the curation of its food and drinks menu which has captured customers imagination on social media. The Bullring menu will include the brand’s iconic assortment of Afternoon Tea, alongside EL&N Café’s classic all day brunch selection and crafted patisserie from its in-house pastry team.
Toby Tait, Director Asset Management, Hammerson, said: “Across our Birmingham Estate, we are passionate about delivering best-in-class experiences for our visitors to enjoy. EL&N Café will bring something new and exciting to the destination, and their selection of Bullring for a regional debut location is a clear sign of their confidence in Bullring and Birmingham more generally. EL&N Café will deliver a unique atmosphere that we know will appeal to the people of Europe’s youngest city and we can’t wait to see it open later this year.”
Alexandra Miller, Founder of EL&N Café, said: “Opening our Midlands’ debut is a major milestone for us. We are delighted to be coming to Birmingham and there is no better location to be than the iconic Bullring. When I launched the brand, my goal was to provide consumers with a memory that could last forever and opening a space in a renowned destination like Bullring is reminiscent of that, I can’t wait to bring this experience to a new demographic of customers.”
This signing follows the news that Birmingham City Council has unanimously approved Hammerson’s transformational plans to bring to life ‘Drum’, the repurposing of the former department store at Grand Central, part of its Birmingham Estate, into 200,000 sq ft of modern wellbeing-designed offices.
