InnBrighton develops new business model

Speaking at the MA300 event, InnBrighton CEO Gavin George said: “To bust out of our heartland of Brighton, where we have 40 sites, and move on to pastures new it was necessary to try and put a bit of science behind it. We have looked at six key elements through six key perspectives. Already we’ve got 36 plates spinning.”

George described the importance of “the personalities of the people” hired by InnBrighton, explaining that “it takes a very special person to keep those plates spinning and, not only that, renew them with their own creativity” so “we always try and get the right person.”

“So, armed with our model and an understanding of our customers, we’ve looked to pastures new and not looked very far…there are pockets of our customer base all around…in the fringe of the boroughs and villages of London,” George explained.

“Our sites in London - in each case we have renamed them, repositioned them and relaunched them with a connection with the communities in which they are located but with a contemporary feel. An example of that is one we relaunched most recently called the Aeronaut in Acton. It was the Redback an Australasian bar that had been closed for quite some time. The reason we went to Acton was because, if you look at the demographic profile of Acton, within a mile radius of this pub 65% of the population is the type of customer we serve in Brighton, but they just weren’t going out in Acton. Not only that, but in London it’s only 21% so this seemed like a very good dense area for our type of customer,” said George.

“In Brighton within a mile of our pubs you’ll find 260 pubs, because there’s a pub for nearly every day of the year in Brighton, but, in Acton, there’s only 26. It was a great location to put one of our sites.”

“From the care we are taking to the conviviality we have, we are achieving quite a lot of success,” he added.