Retail Property - Segafredo makes London debut with plans for 100 UK coffee bars

International coffee giant Segafredo Zanetti Espresso - the sixth largest coffee chain in the world - has launched its first UK branch, on London's Baker Street. It plans to roll out a 100-strong UK chain to add to its 350 espresso bars on four continents.

The Switzerland-based cafe chain has taken 72 Baker Street for its UK debut, while a second London site, adjacent to the Jazz Cafe at Parkway in Camden, north London, has already been secured.

The first two outlets will be followed early in the new year by two city centre branches in Yorkshire.

Segafredo Zanetti Espresso has taken a unit in The Light, the new leisure and retail centre in Leeds.

Meanwhile, in Wakefield it will open in the listed former Crown Court building, which is being entirely refurbished.

Segafredo Zanetti Espresso WorldWide president Cesare Zamboni said the company's target is to triple the number of cafes around the globe to 1,000.

To spearhead its expansion in the UK, Segafredo Zanetti Espresso has already bought a 20 per cent stake in Puccino's, the 95-outlet coffee bar chain based at Epsom in Surrey.