Pablo's takes its breakfast bao south to London
The North East brand known for hash-brown bao buns signs a franchise deal to open inside Bloodsports, the Covent Garden sports bar, with a London debut set for January 2027.
Pablo's, the North East breakfast and brunch brand built around bao buns and hash browns, is bringing its menu to London for the first time, through a franchise deal with Bloodsports, a Covent Garden sports bar.
The brand, founded in 2020 by Emma Dent and Edward Evans, currently runs six sites across Tyne and Wear and one in Edinburgh, where Ottolenghi opened its first Scottish restaurant in October. London has been outside Pablo's reach until now. The Bloodsports deal changes that, placing the brand inside a venue it did not build itself for the first time.
Bloodsports opened in Covent Garden in early 2025, founded by Scott Collins, who also built the Meatliquor chain. Pablo's will run as a franchise inside the bar rather than as a standalone shop, a format the brand has not used before. It joins a run of new signings in the neighbourhood, where Lenny's Apizza recently found a permanent home.
A hash-brown bao built in Newcastle now has to prove itself on a Covent Garden lunch crowd.
A franchise route into London
The opening is scheduled for January 2027. Pablo's is working with franchise consultancy Presman & Colard on the move, and the companies are already looking past this single site: the plan is at least five new openings by mid-2027, built around prospective franchisees rather than company-owned stores.
Emma Dent and Edward Evans said they were keen to take the brand beyond its home turf. "We're extremely excited to open our first location south of the North East in Covent Garden," they said, framing the deal as a step toward building Pablo's into a national name through franchising rather than one-off expansion.
Charlie Mander, co-founder and chief operating officer at Presman & Colard, backed the brand's prospects. "Pablo's is one-of-a-kind," he said, pointing to its product, its following, and the economics of its sites as reasons franchisees should take notice.
What travels with the brand
The signature items are unchanged: breakfast bao buns built around a hash brown base, alongside Pablo's wider brunch menu. Franchising inside an existing bar, rather than opening a dedicated shop, lets the brand test London demand without the cost of a full site build, a model regional breakfast brands have used before to enter the capital.
For Collins, folding a breakfast concept into Bloodsports adds daytime trade to a bar built for match days and evening crowds. For Pablo's, the test is simpler: whether a hash-brown bao built for Newcastle and Edinburgh finds the same audience in central London.
