George V to open new bars and clubs in MidEast

Georges V Eatertainment, creators of the Buddha Bar concept, is set to expand its portfolio of restaurants, bars and nightclubs in the Middle East.

The group is in negotiations to open a new Sanctuary nightclub in the UAE that will combine indoor and outdoor space.

Originally, the Sanctuary concept was created for Atlantis The Palm, which opened in 2008.

George V Entertainment VP development Franck Fortet told HotelierMiddleEast.com: “The agreement ran out, it was only a specific time frame agreement and we had a great collaboration with Sanctuary but it was not meant to last forever.

“Nightclub have a life span of three to five years. And you need to renew things both in terms of concept and in terms of location. So as the agreement ran out, Atlantis went on with their own operation and we are going to open an indoors-outdoors Sanctuary nightclub in the future.”

Fortet said the new venuw would either be in Dubai or Abu Dhabi.

“We will announce it when confirmed, but it will be a very large location, with at least 1000m² indoors and 1000m² outdoors,” said Fortet.

He noted a “gap for quality nightclubs in Dubai”.

“We have a theory that we call darling competition. Darling competition to us is the more quality locations the better we have to be, but I don’t believe it divides the crowd, I believe it just brings more crowds,” said Fortet.

“If you open more nightclubs with the right control, environment and quality, you will have more DJs coming to Dubai, you will have more need to compete and bring good quality of music, of service, of design, and I think it’s very good for everybody.

“The right quality will never affect competition; it will just bring more people more often.”

The company also plans to extend its Bar Latino concept to the region.

“We have a pipeline that’s pretty heavy already but we plan to open Bar Latino, our Latino fusion concept in Dubai; and a Bar Latino in Lebanon,” said Fortet.

The group has recently added Siddharta Lounge by Buddha Bar to its portfolio, an indoor-outdoor restaurant, bar, lounge and club concept created for the new Grosvenor House Tower Two.

“We created it specifically for Dubai and it’s very likely we may extend it elsewhere after we analyse its success and people’s reactions, which so far have been very good,” Fortet added.