Camerons Brewery is set to install a new system in its pubs that allows licensees to show adverts during football matches and “recoup some of the fees for paid TV packages”.
Barrio Bars, the neighbourhood DJ club and bar concept, has been in talks with several private equity firms as it looks to expand to five sites within London by the end of 2013, company founder Ferdie Ahmed has told M&C Report.
Peter Marks, chief executive of nightclub company Luminar, says its structured discounting policy has led to a 20% rise in volumes at its venues since the start of the year.
Be At One, the London-based cocktail-bar chain, has revealed a new corporate identity to accompany its expansion, featuring the strapline ‘Hosting London’.
Orchid Group has reported a 5.4% fall in EBITDAR in 2011, although turnover grew 3.7% to £179.6m, as the firm announced a three-year, £20m capex programme that will see wet-led sites become food-led.
Trust Inns, the c.600-strong pub business owned by leisure magnate Trevor Hemmings, has reported a sharp fall in full-year pre-tax profits after paying higher interest payments and incurring a £1.9m impairment charge following a £6m property value write-down.
Pub People Company, the 37-strong East Midlands-based group led by Kevin Sammons, has reported a 3.7% rise in EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) for the year to the end of March 2012.
Hook Norton, the Oxfordshire brewer and pub operator, would consider opening a pub in London in a few years, as it homes in on more acquisitions in its heartland.
Loungers, the fast-growing café/bar/restaurant company, has confirmed the location of its first four planned openings in the north-west — in Liverpool, the Wirral, and two in Greater Manchester.
Peach Pub Company, the multiple operator, says its in a “good financial position for further expansion” as it reports a 53% rise in pre-tax profits to £621,880 in the year to 1 January 2012.
Churchill Inns, the Wellingborough-based pub business, and sister group Clementines Taverns have been placed into administration, M&C Report has learnt.
Stonegate, the TDR Capital-backed managed pub operator, is “categorically not” looking to acquire rival Barracuda, chairman Ian Payne has told M&C Report.
Stonegate Pub Company, the managed operator, has appointed its first “success coach” to help progress the careers of its deputy managers on its new six-month Accelerated Leadership programme.
A pub operator has found social media website Facebook helpful in recruiting new staff for one of its pubs, after struggling to get any applicants through traditional media.
Columbo Group, the London-based multiple operator headed by former Fabric head of promotion Steve Ball and Riz Shaikh, will open its latest site, the Hudson, next month in north west London.
I think that all good operators have come to realise that there is no point having a wonderful pub if their customers can only get there through a war zone. You have got to be part of a thriving town centre.”
Bravo Inns, the Warrington-based pub operator led by Ken Buckley and backed by Albion Ventures, has opened its 30th site in the North West and secured a further three sites.
Charles Wells has bought a London pub from Young’s specifically to let to multiple operator Yummy Pub Company and is looking at opportunities to adopt a similar acquisition strategy going forward, the PMA's sister title M&C Report has learnt.
Cirrus Inns, the investment vehicle launched to back a premium estate of freehold pubs with rooms, has secured five new pubs, including the Yew Tree Inn that was formerly owned by celebrity chef Marco Pierre White.
City Pub Company, the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) funded operator, has secured its sixth site, in Oxford, as it launches a new fund-raising bid and appoints a part-time finance director.
Orchid Group, the managed operator led by Rufus Hall, has handed control of its 33-strong PBR Leisure (PBRL) division to the Avanti Capital-backed Eclectic Clubs & Bars.
TLC Inns, the multi-site operator led by Steve Haslam and Jo Drain, has identified two more sites for the rollout of its American restaurant and bar concept Grand Central.
Looking to grow your pub empire? Think there’s a shortage of money around? Well, think again. There are plenty of potential investors out there — it’s just that the organisations who have got it, are afraid to use it.
Craft Beer Co, the specialist beer bar concept launched by award-winning licensee Martin Hayes, has secured an outlet a Brixton for its third London site.
Luminar boss Peter Marks has admitted that the 58-strong nightclub chain has had to be aggressive on pricing at certain venues midweek to compete with the cut-price alcohol sold in supermarkets.
Phoenix Pub Group, the newly incorporated umbrella company operating c.80 pubs mostly in south-east England, plans to expand to about 120 sites over three years following a period of churn.
For some reason that now escapes me, having carried our desserts across the level crossing, David Bruce and I are eating them off pub crockery balanced on some sort of electrical junction box at Kintbury railway station, eastbound platform, in Berkshire.
Batemans, the Lincolnshire brewer and pub operator, has reported a rise in turnover and operating profit in the year to 31 January, although pre-tax profit fell 40% after a fall in profits from property disposals.
Yummy Pub Co, the venture led by Tim Foster and Anthony Pender, hopes to secure a new site every three months and is focusing on its supper-club concept Ssshh for a rollout that could extend to 20 sites.
The old saying ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ doesn’t quite cut it for Geronimo Inns founder Rupert Clevely, who clearly prefers a different version — ‘if it ain’t broke, it’s still worth tinkering with’.
Hertfordshire brewer and pub operator McMullen’s has reported a 24% rise in profits before tax and exceptional items to £7.3m in the year to 1 October 2011, but said the sector’s tax and regulatory burden is forcing it to reconsider its investment plans.
Caught between the cultures of England and France, the last thing you might expect as a signature dish in a Channel Islands pub is a kind of giant Portuguese kebab that comes swinging to your table hoisted on a yard-high wrought-iron gibbet.
City Pub Company has secured two more sites as it prepares to launch a fresh round of fund-raising to generate c.£8m for further expansion, the PMA's sister title M&C Report has learnt.
Multiple pub operators struggling to deal with higher energy prices have been invited to attend the next meeting of the Hospitality Sector Carbon Reduction Forum, a new cross-sector initiave which offers best advice on cutting energy consumption.
Amber Taverns, the fast-growing managed operator of wet-led freehold community pubs, has reported a 3% rise in like-for-like sales for the year to 29 January 2012, as it opened 14 sites across the North of England during the year.
Kornicis Group, the London-based bar and restaurant group led by Nick Tamblyn and backed by private equity group NBGI, has obtained new funding, which it plans to use to add five sites to its existing 20-strong estate over the next 12 months.
Baa Bar, the Liverpool-based late-night bar operator, plans to double its estate to 20 sites over the next four years and expand beyond its heartland, M&C Report has learnt.
