Flagship Marugame Udon site to open in Argyll Street.   

20th October, 2021

MKR Property, acting behalf of Marugame Udon, have secured the former Frankie & Benny site on Argyll Street - a stone throw from Oxford Circus, in what was an off-market transaction. 

It has been an emotional rollercoaster of a deal which started over 12 months ago (in the middle of lockdown) following some good old fashioned canvassing. We’ve had to navigate a number of serious hurdles and on numerous occasions it looked like it just wasn’t feasible but fortunately hard graft and commercial level-headedness by all parties prevailed. 

PROPEL HOSPITALITY LIMITED

Marugame Udon secures UK flagship site near Oxford Circus: International udon noodles and tempura restaurant brand Marugame Udon, which launched in the UK earlier this summer, has secured a flagship site near London’s Oxford Circus, Propel has learned. Marugame Udon, which is led in the UK by Keith Bird, has secured the former Frankie & Benny’s site in Argyll Street. Marugame Udon, which has more than 850 restaurants in Japan and a further 250 across Asia, the US and Russia, opened its debut site in the UK, on the former Wahaca site in Middlesex Street in Spitalfields, earlier this summer. It will open a second UK site, at The O2 in Greenwich, later this month, and has further openings lined up in Canary Wharf (ex-Byron site) and St Christopher’s Place. It is working with Marc Rogers, of MKR Property, on its expansion plans. Propel also understands Marugame Udon wants to build an estate of company-owned sites in the capital before exploring franchise opportunities for the concept across the UK. Capdesia Group, the backer of Wasabi, and Toridoll Holdings Corporation, the backer of Shoryu Ramen and Wok to Walk, and the owner of the Marugame brand, announced last summer they had formed a new joint venture to launch Marugame Udon in London.