Bar operator, Urbium, has revealed in a trading update that while its new venues in London have kept overall sales up, sales outside London have fallen.

New businesses opened in the City of London towards the end of the six months to 27 June – the 850-capacity Abacus at Cornhill, the 620-capacity Agenda in Mincing Lane and the 600-capacity Context in Finsbury Square – helped push like for like sales up 5 per cent for the period.

However, while new openings at the end of 2002 helped sales for the six months to 27 June 2003, a lack of new openings in 2003 and weaker consumer confidence, meant sales outside London for the beginning of 2004 were down on the previous year.

In June, Urbium opened its first smaller format Tiger Tiger bar, in Edinburgh, a footprint which it intends to expand into a number of secondary city markets.

The company will announce its interim results for the six months to 30 June on 8 September this year.