Le Chocolat Alain Ducasse is opening a new 1,400 sq ft London store at Borough Yards in south London.
The brand, which was created by the globally-renowned chef and operates almost 30 chocolate shops across France and London, will serve chocolate and ice cream manufactured in the in-store kitchen
James Bell of Gillingham Bell, who secured the lease for Le Chocolat Alain Ducasse, said: “Mr Ducasse’s Manufacture de chocolat was born from his desire to get to the roots and the true essence of what makes chocolate: the work of a
craftsman. Given the rich food and craftmanship heritage of Borough Market, it was a natural fit when considering location plus there was a perfect connection between the first La Manufacture in Paris with its authentic, raw, discordant decor and Borough Yard’s combination of the old and new buildings.”
Stéphane Prévidi, international development director at Les Manufactures Alain Ducasse, said: “The opening of this new store in one of London’s most vibrant locations brings a significant advantage to our development strategy. Our Manufactures branch started in 2013 with Le chocolat, then in 2018 with Le café and, more recently La glace and Le biscuit. Altogether, these four Manufactures are present on four markets with more than 30 stores.”
Mark Gamble, senior managing director and head of asset management at MARK, which developed the SPPARC-designed Borough Yards, added: “Borough has all the ingredients to be a fantastic shopping destination but the area has always been marked by a lack of high-quality retail. The arrival of a globally renowned brand
like Alain Ducasse illustrates the transformative role that Borough Yards plays in this respect.
“We are taking the lessons we learned in revitalising Burlington Arcade to create a
modern, lifestyle-led 21st century high street set in 19th century railway arches. Retail and leisure was becoming more experiential before the pandemic, but with the lockdown-induced boom in online shopping, brands are going to have to give consumers even more of a reason to visit their store.”
Gillingham Bell has been instructed to seek additional retail stores for La Manufacture de chocolat Alain Ducasse in the UK and Europe alongside partners Retail Bespoke. CBRE acted for MARK.
