Spanish-restaurant chain La Tasca will launch an
individually branded cava-and-tapas bar in Brighton at the end of this month, with a view to rolling out similar sites around Britain in the coming year.
The restaurant, to be called Bellota, will comprise a cava bar sponsored by Codorníu, plus a dining room serving traditional Spanish tapas. La Tasca’s parent company hopes to rejuvenate the brand
by launching seven further individually branded tapas bars, which will have no obvious link with the La Tasca name, including an Edinburgh site called Norte and a London venture.
The move sees La Tasca aligning itself with the sort of contemporary independent tapas bars that have become popular in London over the past two years, such as Spanish chef José Pizarro’s
Bermondsey restaurants (one of which, Pizarro, boasts London’s first cava bar), popular Soho bar Copita, and Basque tapas restaurant Donostia, in Marylebone.
La Tasca went into administration in 2008; the brand is trying to reinvent itself under new ownership.
This story was published in January 2013.