For the period ending 31 March 2024, the company recorded £58.6m in turnover for the UK (excluding overseas operations).
The highest paid director at the business received remuneration of £251,000 – up from £242,000 in the previous year.
The latest period was a record year for the group, reporting sales passing the £60m mark for the first time.
Business challenges
The Alchemist venues:
Battersea, London
Bevis Marks, London
Brindleyplace, Birmingham
Brunswick St, Liverpool
Brewery Quarter, Cheltenham
Canary Wharf, London
Colmore Row, Birmingham
Eldon Square, Newcastle
George Square, Glasgow
George Street, Edinburgh
Greek Street, Leeds
Gunwharf Quays, Portsmouth
King Street, Nottingham
MediaCity UK, Manchester
Monument, London
New York Street, Manchester
Spinningfields, Manchester
St James Quarter, Edinburgh
St Martins Lane, London
St Mary Street, Cardiff
Trinity, Leeds
Victoria, London
Westgate, Oxford
Challenges outlined in the trading update included “rampant levels of inflation, including significant spiking in energy costs, creating the cost-of-living crisis that so damaged consumer confidence in the hospitality and retail environment”.
It also highlighted the fact it was impacted by rolling train strikes, which “‘disproportionately affected city centre footfall, ordinarily driven by commuters and tourists”.
May 2023 saw The Alchemist open its first overseas site. The opening of the Berlin venue followed a strategic review of future growth plans for the business.
While the establishment of the site created losses in the year as a result of set-up costs, supply chain and overseas business support, directors believed the investment will add “significant scope and value to the long-term outlook for the business”.
Company expansion
The business expanded with two sites added to its estate in the UK during the period – a second opening in Edinburgh in June 2023 and a sixth in London in February 2024.
There were also plans to growth the portfolio further following debt refinancing with OakNorth bank having been completed in 2024, which provided funding for new site acquisitions. The first of these will open this year on Eastcheap in central London, which is set to open at the end of January.
Elsewhere, venues in Manchester, MediaCity and Oxford received refurbishments.
In November last year, The Morning Advertiser’s sister title MCA reported The Alchemist CEO Simon Potts revealed the business was planning to open a site “further east” in 2025.
