A Botanic Battle

Scotland's Astronomer Royal John Brown has threatened to hang up his telescope if a controversial bid by G1 to create a basement nightclub in a tunnel beneath the city's famous Botanic Gardens wins the go-ahead.

While the scheme has its supporters, Brown is the latest high-profile name to join a protest campaign against the development. Yet G1 has dismissed the public storm over the plan as a blip in its steady expansion from Glasgow into Edinburgh and other towns and cities.

G1 founder Stefan King says its strong performance - £5.2m in annual operating profits on sales up nearly 15 per cent to £37.4m - means it's on course to be Scotland's biggest independent multiple operator, with 40 mainly large-scale sites including major city-centre hybrid operations, as well as its 100-plus tenanted bars.

But the Botanic scheme, which King sees as a future jewel in the crown of his portfolio, has sparked packed, angry public meetings and parliamentary lobbying. Protestors claim the gardens - a world-renowned horticultural resource - would be ruined by disorderly, late-night revellers. And they argue the busy local West End bars and clubs scene is already at saturation point.

But King says Glasgow will be "left behind" in the tourism stakes if it doesn't embrace his scheme. "For some strange reason I enjoy situations where I can create opportunities such as this," he says.

No disorder

He dismisses claims that the club would cause disorder: "There are so many avenues to object under the new licensing system that if someone puts a foot wrong their licence can be revoked."

G1's plan involves turning a derelict railway tunnel and platform beneath the gardens into a 400-capacity club, while also building a ground-level facsimile of an original Victorian station building destroyed by fire in the 1970s.

Besides the Botanic Gardens nightclub plan G1 has previously faced criticism for its handling of the landmark former Post Office building in the city's George Square. It lay moribund and was damned as an "eyesore" when plans failed to develop.

But the firm, which has won several trade and best practice awards, claims an impeccable reputation in its restoration of historic buildings, many of them Class A listed, and says it will remain committed to high-level refurbishment.

While G1 starts 2008 facing major planning and licensing battles, it also has plenty on its development agenda to follow existing assets in Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Dundee, Perth and East Kilbride.

In the core estate, the firm recently opened what it describes as its first "major" venue in the Scottish capital: Picardy Place, a boutique hotel and deluxe cocktail bar. Last year it also launched gay-friendly nightclub GHQ in the capital, with the promise it would transform city nightlife. This brings it full circle as the company - spotting a gap in the market - launched from a single Glasgow gay bar 17 years ago.

Large scale operations

Future plans will see it remain focused on substantial freehold properties capable of hosting its typically large-scale bar, restaurant, club, casino, hotel and hybrid ventures.

In Glasgow, core venues include Arta, a former court building and now a lavishly-decorated seven-level Mediterranean-themed hybrid; and the Corinthian, which claims "the finest [licensed] Victorian interior in the UK". Other assets include a licensed cinema with associated bars and bar-restaurant, the Salon, in a historic listed former cinema building.

G1 opened 10 core premises last year including Capital music venue in Glasgow's trade-busy Sauchiehall Street and the Granary Bar on the site of the former award-winning Light-house café-bar in Leith. It also paid £3m for a cash-strapped former private members' club in Glasgow, and acquired the Berkeley Casino in Edinburgh.

Meanwhile, the tenanted estate is being boosted by the strength of the core group, while in return boosting overall company volumes. King says a two-tier expansion of tenanted and managed units will improve the G1 risk profile and bring benefits on bulk supply deals and economies of scale.

The firm also recently acquired a 20-strong package of S&NPE bars and aims to "aggressively" seek further packages as well as single pubs. King believes further consolidation of English-based multiples will create natural opportunities for more G1 pub purchases in Scotland.

Perhaps he can use John Brown's telescope to spot them…