A NATIONWIDE bar and restaurant company has opened its new headquarters inside a former Knutsford nightclub.

The New World Trading Company, which was once part of Living Ventures, has settled into its new home at the Amber Lounge site in Malt Street.

Now an independent business, following a £50 million acquisition bid from private equity firm, Graphite Capital in June 2016, the New World Trading Company head office is remaining in the town- but is housed in a separate site to the Living Ventures group.

Chris Hill, chief executive at The New World Trading Company, said: “As our business develops so does our reputation across both the North and South of England.

“No matter where the head office is based it’s hugely important that as we grow at a steady pace across the country we continue to stay agile and have a presence across all of our sites.

Following the sale, New World Trading Company operates 16 pubs nationally under five sub brands including The Botanist and The Oast House.

The company, which was launched by Living Ventures co-founders Tim Bacon and Jeremy Roberts in 2011, has already opened a branch of The Botanist in Knutsford’s King Street after taking over from the popular Knutsford Wine Bar location in March.

Chris added: ““We take great pride in all of our pubs being part of the local community and we want to make sure that our head office team do what they can to support this.”

Within the next six months the company is set to expand further with openings across the UK including Didsbury in Greater Manchester.

The group has taken over the Amber Lounge building, which was sold in March last year to haulage tycoon William Stobart.

Former owner of the Amber Lounge, Peter Clarke, said at the time that the building had been taken over by the Stobarts but that he was not aware of plans they had for the site.