Unlocking the potential
Hamish Champ spoke to S&NPE at the recent opening of the first pub redeveloped by the Waterside Pub Partnership - the Foxton Locks Inn.
As local dignitaries and industry figures celebrated the recent opening of the Foxton Locks Inn on the Grand Union canal near Market Harborough in Leicestershire, the pub bustled with paying customers. This was a marked turnaround for a site that had lain derelict and boarded up for more than two years until only a few months ago.
The outlet was bought for re-development by the Waterside Pub Partnership (WPP), the 50:50 joint venture established in February this year between Scottish & Newcastle Pub Enterprises (S&NPE) and British Waterways (BW), the public body responsible for the maintenance of the country's 2,000-mile network of canals and rivers.
It is the first of a network of canal-side pubs the WPP wants to see exploiting the tourist potential of the UK's waterways. The partnership has identified 20 more waterway sites to add to an existing portfolio of 30 pubs already situated alongside canals and riverbanks, with a view to extending this to 100 waterside pubs over the next three to five years.
"We are very excited about the opening [of the Foxton premises] and a lot of hard work and effort has gone into turning the pub into what it is today," says S&NPE managing director Jeremy Blood of the refurbishment, which cost more than £500,000 and took 12 weeks to complete.
"But this event also marks the christening of the partnership between ourselves and British Waterways. The job now is to develop more waterway sites, particularly in towns and cities."
With bodies such as local authorities ready to cooperate with the WPP, it is the inherent potential in such relatively easy to get to urban brownfield sites - old canal-side buildings or sites such as that adjacent to the famous Falkirk Wheel, the boat-lifting apparatus on the Forth & Clyde and Union canals near Falkirk in Scotland - that excites S&NPE.
Such a development programme requires significant funding and commitment and around £10m is already in place for refurbishment work, with more available as and when it is required. Logistical work will also be carried out where necessary.
"Some of the sites comprise existing buildings, but a number don't," explains S&NPE commercial director Martyn Gray. "Where there is no existing infrastructure we will be laying in water, gas and electricity and looking at improving road links where needed," he adds.
Both parties are, meanwhile, bringing skills to the partnership the other side doesn't have, adds Jeremy. "Quite simply, British Waterways does canals and rivers and we do pubs," he comments.
The partners stand to gain considerably from the arrangement. S&NPE, which fought off stiff competition from SA Brain and Punch Taverns to secure its participation in the venture, will be boosting distribution of Scottish & Newcastle's beers and lagers through the outlets, while BW is hoping the refurbished and new pubs will act as a draw for yet more visitors to their canals.
Robin Evans, BW's chief executive, says that his organisation is delighted to be working with the pubco.
"It understands our values, such as localness, inclusiveness and access for the disabled, in order that everyone can enjoy these and future facilities. The S&NPE team have been with us all the way and they've never questioned anything we've wanted to do," he adds.
Bad news for the competition, perhaps, but with such a high profile outlet for S&N's product range, and with profits from the partnership going towards the care and upkeep of the country's 200-year-old canal and river network, everyone involved in the WPP will be hoping the venture is sailing towards a bright and prosperous future.
Before: The pub had been derelict for two years
After: Now after a £500,000 refurbishment business is booming
