Rupert Clevely – ‘I would not have returned had Enterprise Inns partnership not materialised’, sixth Hippo Inns site to open in September: Hippo Inns co-founder Rupert Clevely has told Propel he would not have returned to the pub industry had the “managed expert” partnership with Enterprise Inns not materialised. The company, which was founded last September, will open its sixth site – The Islington Town House – in September in Islington, north London, with its fifth The Lillie Langtry in West Brompton due to launch this month. But Clevely, who sold Geronimo Inns five years ago, has revealed Hippo Inns would never have existed without Enterprise. He said: “If the opportunity with Enterprise hadn’t presented itself I wouldn’t have done it because I simply wouldn’t have had access to the sites, and also I knew that one pub wouldn’t be enough for me – I wanted to take on a number of sites. The thing is that in London now if I were to try to restart Geronimo then to find new sites on my own with capital would be very hard. The capital would be possible but finding the property would be the tricky bit. Finding good free-of-tie freeholds and leaseholds is extremely difficult. Good companies such as Young’s and Fuller’s are doing very well and they are buying all the best freehold pubs within the M25. Frankly I can’t compete with that.” Clevely also said three of the four sites currently operating were “performing extremely well and well beyond budget” and “we do have one that could do better but it is profitable”. He added: “We are pretty close to budget across the board. Some venues are 10% above what was predicted. Very simply my vision for Hippo was to go back in and look at the food and drink sector. I love pubs and even after the EU referendum result I still think it will be a strong sector. Interestingly, our figures show sales have actually been very positive since the result on 24 June.” Clevely said there was also “plenty of opportunity” to expand the business. He added: “As I have always said it is about how well we do. We are supported by Enterprise in terms of our capital expenditure. If we are doing well it will continue to help us grow and to support us but if not we may decide to slow down with the pub openings and concentrate on working on our existing portfolio. We would like to open a large amount of sites each year but it depends on money and other factors. There is plenty of opportunity.”

 

Propel and ALMR launch Las Vegas study tour: Propel and the Association of Licensed Multiple Retailers (ALMR) are heading to Las Vegas for their next study tour, which has opened for bookings. The visit takes place between Saturday, 25 March and Tuesday, 28 March 2017. After five hugely successful trips to Chicago, Propel and the ALMR have decided to check out Las Vegas. The trip provides two food study tours where delegates can explore Vegas’ hottest concepts as well as two early evening bar tours, led by James Hacon. The trip also includes three nights’ stay at the MGM Grand Hotel, two hosted dinners and the chance for delegates to explore Vegas at their own leisure. Propel managing director Paul Charity said: “This is a fantastic opportunity to gain valuable insight into the trends and concepts that are shaping Vegas and leading the way in the US market, which will no doubt provide fresh ideas and inspiration for delegates.” For more information or to book, email Jo Charity at jo.charity@propelinfo.com or call 01444 810304. 

 

Propel Premium subscribers to receive enlarged database at end of August, next Propel Premium recording to feature Rufus Hall: Propel Premium subscribers will receive a copy of the Propel database of 700 multi-site companies at the end of this month, an addition of 200 companies to the first database they received when the service was launched in March. Propel managing director Paul Charity said: “The growth of our database of multi-site companies is testament to the growth of professionalised foodservice companies in the sector.” This Friday (5 August) subscribers will also receive an audio recording of sector executive Rufus Hall explaining how he and his team built a unique people culture at Orchid Pub Company, which was recognised by the Sunday Times as one of the UK’s best employers. Propel Premium subscribers, whose subscription lasts a year from the date of signing up, also receive the Propel Blue Book guide to sector turnover and profitability. The Blue Book lists and ranks 200 sector companies by turnover, profitability and profit conversion. It also provides a five-year overview of profitability and directors’ salaries. The current free service to all existing readers remains the same, but readers can opt to upgrade to receive the Propel Premium service. Propel Premium subscribers will be able to receive the Morning Newsletter, which is sent at 6.30am each weekday, 12 hours earlier at 6.30pm the day before. For operators, annual subscription costs £345 plus VAT, with an extra £50 per additional subscriber at each company. For suppliers, annual subscription costs £445 plus VAT, with an extra £50 per additional subscriber at each company. To subscribe to the Propel Premium service, email Anne Steele on anne.steele@propelinfo.com 

Halal restaurant app passes 50% mark in £150,000 crowdfunding campaign: Halal Dining Club, an app that allows users to discover, book and review halal restaurants, has passed the 50% mark in its fund-raise on crowdfunding platform Crowdcube to drive marketing and product development. The company, founded by Siddika Jaffer, is offering a 13.04% equity stake in return for the investment. So far, 31 investors have pledged £78,810. The largest investment to date is £40,000. The pitch states: “We’ve come a long way in a short time on a shoestring budget. We’ve completed qualitative research with diners and restaurants to ensure we design a solution that really meets their needs. We’ve built a fan base of more than 8,000 diners through our Facebook page and have curated a restaurant database of more than 1,300 halal restaurants. We are excited about what we’ve created and confident it will meet the needs of this growing, affluent and under-served group of diners and restaurants. But to grow we now need investment to build up the database to offer the widest range of restaurant options; make improvements to our app and platform to deliver all the features and benefits our diners and restaurants are looking for; fully launch the app with a marketing campaign that will drive downloads and usage; and drive sales of our customer engagement platform to restaurants. By 2020 we aim to deliver a curated database of 10,000 halal restaurants across five countries (UK, Singapore, Canada, US, Australia) where there are a large number of halal diners searching for dining options; have 1.7 million registered app users; 2,000 restaurants signed up to our customer engagement platform; and the average user booking a table for three, four times a year.”

 

Vibrant London brewing sector to be showcased at Great British Beer Festival: London’s brewing industry is so vibrant the Campaign for Real Ale is showcasing the best of its bottled beer at a dedicated Real Ale in a Bottle bar at the Great British Beer Festival at Olympia next week. More than 60 bottled beers from 20 breweries in the Greater London area will be available to the 55,000 drinkers expected to attend the huge festival between Tuesday, 9 August and Saturday, 13 August. Real ale fans will be able to enjoy beers from well-known and established breweries like Fuller’s and Sambrooks, to the recently reborn Trumans, to the innovative and smaller operations leading the beer revolution such as Kernel, Weird Beard and Orbit. The London Real Ale in a Bottle bar will give fans the chance to enjoy the massive range of flavours and styles currently available across the capital and beyond. Great British Beer Festival organiser Ian Hill said: “In recent years, London has undergone a remarkable beer transformation. A decade ago it looked like it may not even be able to claim a brewery within the M25 but now drinkers can choose from hundreds of beers brewed by scores of innovative breweries in the Greater London area.”

 

Just Eat sells Benelux business: Just Eat, the world’s leading digital market place for takeaway food delivery, has announced it has agreed the sale of its businesses in Benelux to Takeaway.com. The enterprise value for the transaction is €22.5m payable in cash, of which 80% was paid on completion and 20% will be paid six months after completion, subject to the satisfaction of certain obligations. Just Eat chief executive David Buttress said: “We have always been clear that the competitive dynamics of our industry demand clear market leadership to drive sustainable profitability. The disposal of our Benelux business, where we are number two, delivers on that strategy and comes at the right time for Just Eat. We are the clear leader in our remaining 12 markets and it is appropriate that our time and resources are focused on building on the strong growth we are seeing across those businesses in future.” Jitse Groen, chief executive and founder of Takeaway.com, added: “We are pleased to acquire the Benelux businesses of Just Eat. These activities are complementary to our operations and will further strengthen our leading positions in continental Europe. This transaction is in line with Takeaway.com’s strategy to drive sustainable leadership positions in each of the 11 markets it operates in.”

 

McDonald’s removes additives from menu: McDonald’s has revealed it has removed all human antibiotics from its chicken supply, seven months ahead of schedule. The company also said it was removing artificial preservatives from many of its products, and plans to stop serving buns made with high fructose corn syrup, reports Nation’s Restaurant News. Last year, McDonald’s vowed to remove human antibiotics from its chicken supply by March next year and has beaten its goal by several months. Marion Gross, McDonald’s chief supply chain officer, said the company focused on chicken first, because it has a “fully integrated supply chain”, meaning it manages nearly every aspect of its chicken supply chain, “from egg to chicken”. The company has also eliminated an artificial preservative from the cooking oil it uses to make its Chicken McNuggets along with eggs used for its biscuit and McGriddle sandwiches, as well as scrambled eggs. McDonald’s is also rolling out new buns this month for its Big Macs, Quarter Pounders, hamburgers, cheeseburgers and other sandwiches, which are made with sugar rather than high fructose corn syrup. The changes come as McDonald’s works to improve its core menu and burnish its image. The company has made changes to its salads, replacing iceberg lettuce with a mixture of romaine, baby spinach, baby kale and red leaf lettuce. It added Buttermilk Crispy Chicken, started using real butter in its Egg McMuffins and committed to shifting to cage-free eggs by 2025. McDonald’s said it is focused on improving its core menu items as it works to continue to build sales. 

 

TruRating raises £9.5m in Series A funding: TruRating, the company that collects real-time customer insight at the point of sale to help businesses know where to improve, has raised £9.5m in Series A funding. The company, which includes pizza brand Franco Manca among its customers, has now raised £13.7m since 2014. The latest round of funding was led by investment firm Sandaire. TruRating works by asking the customer a single question that appears on the payment terminal asking them to rate their experience from zero to nine. Businesses can then view the ratings through an online dashboard to them help them understand the key areas where they need to improve. Earlier this year, TruRating, which is live in the UK and Australia and will launch in North America shortly, hit one million ratings, and just seven months later has already doubled this to hit two million. In time, this information will be made available to consumers online, making it easy to compare ratings and make an informed choice about where to eat and shop. Co-founder and chief executive Georgina Nelson said: “Our aim is to bring honesty and transparency back to consumer ratings globally. We have had an incredible year, building a world-class service with our partners and customers. Securing this funding will help us take TruRating to the next level. There’s a huge appetite among businesses to get validated, real-time ratings from the majority of their customers. Now 88% of people asked to rate do. It’s such an easy way for consumers to have their say and be listened to, and for merchants to respond and improve.”

 

Crowdfunding investments dropped 17% in first half of 2016 compared to year before: Crowdfunding platforms saw a slowdown in deal flow for the first time in five years in the first half of this year. The number of investments offered online fell 17% in the first half of 2016, compared with the previous year, according to research company Beauhurst. The fall follows ten consecutive half years of growth in terms of the number of deals offered to investors. In value terms, Beauhurst found that crowdfunding platforms raised £87.4m in the first half of 2016, a drop of just over 4% from the £91.3m raised in the previous six months. However, these numbers also include institutional investments in deals offered on crowdfunding sites. Beauhurst’s head of research Pedro Madeira said the slowdown in crowdfunding was “particularly noteworthy”. He added: “Equity crowdfunding relies mostly on armchair investors, who will presumably be quicker to retrench their investment activity when they’re fearful, and are therefore good real time gauges of investment sentiment.” Beauhurst’s data also showed venture capital and private equity firms slowed investment into UK startups and high-growth companies in the same period. Including these sectors, Beauhurst recorded a 20% fall in the overall number of investment deals.

 

Licensing update: Licensing solicitors John Gaunt & Partners produce a useful monthly summary of topical issues and the latest can be accessed here.

 

Brewhouse & Kitchen acquires JD Wetherspoon site in Lichfield, 16th in estate: Brewhouse & Kitchen, the brewpub business led by Kris Gumbrell and Simon Bunn, has exchanged contracts to acquire the freehold of the Gatehouse in Lichfield, Staffordshire, from JD Wetherspoon, its 16th site. Gumbrell said: “The Gatehouse is a great addition to our business, Lichfield is a prosperous cathedral city, it has great demography and the pub is an iconic building in the town centre. We will continue to focus on high quality locations in the Midlands and the north of England, following our acquisitions in Sutton Coldfield, Wilmslow and Chester.”

 

JD Wetherspoon shuts Nuneaton pub closed by ‘pest control issues’ permanently, takes other pub in town off market: JD Wetherspoon has closed The William White pub in Nuneaton permanently, 13 days after it was forced to shut because of “pest control issues”. The company confirmed the venue in Newdegate Street would not reopen but said its other site in the Warwickshire town would no longer be sold. The Felix Holt, in Stratford Street, had been put on the market as Wetherspoon looked to reduce the number of pubs it ran in Nuneaton. Spokesman Eddie Gershon told the Coventry Telegraph: “We can confirm that Wetherspoon has closed The William White pub in Nuneaton. All of the pub staff have been relocated to other Wetherspoon pubs. It will not reopen as a Wetherspoon pub. The Felix Holt pub in the town, which was on the market, is no longer for sale and will remain open as a Wetherspoon pub. No decision has been made on the future of The William White pub site.” The specific pest problem that forced The William White, which is next to the River Anker, to shut has not been made public.

 

TGI Friday’s reports more than 20,000 job applications received in a year: TGI Friday’s, which created 350 jobs in 2016 and plans to create 150 more this year as it plans six openings, has reported it received 20,332 job applications in the past year. The brand, headed by Karen Forrester, celebrated its 30th anniversary in March, with the first UK Friday’s launching in Birmingham in Hagley Road in 1986. Dawn Cheetham, head of culture and development at TGI Friday’s UK said: “We’re extremely proud to have continued our expansion of TGI Friday’s throughout 2016, our landmark 30th year in the brand’s UK history, allowing us to bring the fun, unique Friday’s atmosphere to more guests across the country. Our people are the beating heart of our business, and so we’re delighted to be creating almost 500 careers this year right across the UK. If you’re passionate about embarking on an adventure in the hospitality industry, then take a look at our website – we’d love to have you in the Friday’s family!”

 

Zetter Group to open fourth site and first outside London, in Manchester: London-based boutique hotel operator The Zetter Group is to open its fourth site and first outside the capital, in Manchester. The company has been confirmed as the operator for the redeveloped London Road Fire Station by developer Allied London. Zetter Group co-founder Michael Benyan told The Business Desk: “We are delighted to have finally found the perfect opportunity to open a Zetter property in Manchester. London Road is an iconic building and a real gift for us as hoteliers. We want to preserve the existing beauty and magic of the building and use it to help create a unique experience for our guests. Allied London should also be applauded for its vision and ambition for the regeneration of the area – it’s an exciting project to be a part of.” Allied London chief executive Michael Ingall added: “We were delighted with the level of interest shown in London Road and humbled by the brands that took the time to travel to view the building and submit proposals. Ultimately, however, we were taken by the hands on approach of the Zetter owners, which we felt was vital in establishing London Road as the new benchmark for hospitality in Manchester.” Zetter Group, which was formed in 2003 by Benyan and Sustainable Restaurant Association founder Mark Sainsbury, currently operates three hotels in London as well as the Grain Store restaurant in King’s Cross.

 

Former La Tasca manager opens Swedish-inspired cafe in Newcastle: A former La Tasca manager has opened a Swedish-inspired cafe concept in Newcastle. Jonatan Ek has launched Dala Swedish Cafe in an empty unit on Newcastle Quayside. The venture has been privately funded, costing about £50,000 to set up, initially creating three jobs. It offers Swedish-inspired food, such as speciality open sandwiches, cakes and goodies as well as a selection of deli items for customers to take away. There are also a selection of “standard” cafe options, such as paninis and jacket potatoes. Ek told Chronicle Live: “I worked at La Tasca as a manager for a number of years and was then involved in setting up El Coto as a small shareholder in 2004. I then sold my share and went to Northumbria University to undertake an MA in business and finance in 2006. After completing that, I joined P&G in 2008 undertaking various roles. I then left P&G in April of this year in order to set Dala up. I’m hoping my place will be seen as a lovely, classy and friendly little independent flavour of Sweden.”

 

Star Pubs & Bars completes biggest external investment of 2016, a new garden by the Thames in Shepperton: A new £160,000 St Tropez-style pub garden has opened on the River Thames at the Red Lion in Shepperton, Surrey, a joint investment by Star Pubs & Bars with licensees The Shepperton Pub Company. The Red Lion’s garden has involved nearly two years of planning and required special permissions from the Environment Agency and local council. Construction has taken 12 weeks and is Star Pubs & Bars’ biggest external investment of 2016 so far. It has included installing a 20-metre jetty with mooring for five riverboats and cruisers and rebuilding the crumbling riverbank, renovating the original wall where possible and putting in gabion baskets. The investment has added seating for 70 people to the Red Lion. It has transformed a grassed area with picnic tables into a garden, which is furnished and planted and lit up at night with candles and strings of lights. It includes an outside bar, stylish tables and chairs and a lounge complete with comfortable outdoor sofas. The Shepperton Pub Company is now considering installing an outside wood fire pizza oven to serve the area in a second phase of the project next year. Lawson Mountstevens, Star Pubs & Bars managing director, said: “The Red Lion’s garden will be one of the top spots on the Thames. Investment in external areas is a cost effective way of increasing covers, and licensees that don’t invest risk losing custom to competitors during good weather.” The Red Lion is the Shepperton Pub Company’s first pub. Directors Steve Orme, James Thomson and Jack Sutton, who also run the award-winning Fish Club restaurant in Clapham, are now looking for more undeveloped long lease Full Repairing and Insuring sites with potential in the London area, with a view to ultimately creating a group of five pubs. Orme said: “We’re firm believers in sweating our assets. The new garden will be like a small business in its own right. It’s in a prime location and we estimate it will increase our customer base by a further 25% to 30%.”

 

Esquires Coffee to open 25th site, in Buckingham: Esquires Coffee will open its 25th franchised site on Monday (8 August), located in Buckingham’s West Street – the franchisee is Chris Rance. Esquires has targeted a minimum of five new locations by the end of 2016, including sites in Yate, Dartford, Guildford, Bradford and the brand’s first site in Wales, in Newport.

 

Tesco opens pop-up wine bar in Soho: Supermarket Tesco has opened a pop-up wine bar in Soho, London. The company is running the 11-day pop-up Tesco Finest Wine Bar in Wardour Street, in between Kettner’s and Waxy’s Little. More than 50 wines from the Tesco Finest range are available to taste by the glass for free, with wine experts on hand to offer advice to novices. Visitors will also be able to choose from a series of “discovery wine flights”. Designed to introduce consumers to “exciting alternatives that are beyond their usual repertoire”, each wine flight will comprise three glasses of similar or different wine styles for consumers to compare and contrast. Tesco senior brand manager Elisabetta Farroni told the Metro: “Showcasing the range through a pop-up wine bar is the perfect way to demonstrate the high quality of our wines directly to the public.” The pop-up wine bar is open every day until Saturday, 13 August from noon to 11pm, except on Monday (8 August) when it will be closed.

 

Peel Hunt issues ‘Buy’ note on Greggs: Peel Hunt leisure analysts Ali Naqvi and Ivor Jones have issued a ‘Buy’ note on Greggs shares following its trading update. They stated: “After a period of share price volatility post-Brexit, Greggs put out a reassuring reiterating business as usual in half one 2016 and reporting an encouraging start to the second half of 2016. Like-for-like sales grew 3.8%, driven by the continued success of healthy choice, new ranges and drinks. This was against a tough comparative (5.9% in the first half of 2015) and despite poor weather in June. Store refurbishment and capex programmes are on track and are expected to deliver cost synergies as they near completion. We maintain our ‘Buy’ recommendation and 1,320p target price and believe Greggs, as the UK’s leading food-on-the-go value retailer, will outperform in this period of investor uncertainty. Greggs highlighted that current trading has been encouraging going into the second half of 2016, which should be seen positively given the post- Brexit wobbles in the shares and concerns raised by up and coming branded operators. Management is confident of meeting full-year expectations. Buy.”

New tapas restaurant and bar concept set to open in Hedon: A new tapas restaurant and bar concept is set to open in Hedon, East Yorkshire. Ben Fisher is launching El Molino in Market Place on the site of an old mill. It will offer traditional Spanish tapas as well as drinks with the site currently being refurbished ahead of opening in October. Fisher told HU12 Online: “The building was actually an old mill and still contains some of the ancient machinery. It was built with bricks from the old Hedon brickyard. El Molino hopes to capture some of that history in the style and character of the place. The frontage and signage on the building will stay as they are now but just reflect the new El Molino name.”

 

Chopstix and Yorkshire-based seafood restaurant Graveley’s secure sites at Doncaster shopping centre: Noodle brand Chopstix and Yorkshire-based upmarket seafood restaurant Graveley’s have both signed to open sites at the Frenchgate Shopping Centre in Doncaster. Chopstix has secured a 1,250 square foot outlet while, Graveley’s, which has a restaurant in Harrogate, will open a 2,500 square foot venue. Both sites are due to open later this year. They will be joined by fitness operator The Gym Group, which is opening a 21,000 square foot gym at the shopping centre in November. The new additions to Frenchgate’s leisure offer follow the recent openings of Patisserie Valerie, the company that has sector investor Luke Johnson as executive chairman, and Ed’s Easy Diner, which have both launched in the past six months. The new signings form part of extensive leasing and development plans underway at Frenchgate, constituting more than 83,000 square feet and about £2.75m of investment in store fit-outs. Time Retail Partners and Rawstron Johnson acted for Frenchgate, which is managed by Lambert Smith Hampton’s Belfast office.

 

Training firm releases ‘next generation’ e-learning courses: Sector training firm CPL Online has announced the immediate release of three “next generation” e-learning courses – Award for Licensed Premises Staff (ALPS), Scottish Award for Licensed Premises Staff (SALPS) and First Aid. In an effort to make learning more engaging and intuitive, the revised courses are now fully built for mobile learning and feature multi-lingual translation, video animation, and gamification. The courses are also complete with big data tracking to monitor user performance and suspicious activity. The ALPS course, which is designed for all licensed retail staff, delivers an engaging and comprehensive overview of licensing law in England and Wales. As a legal requirement for all bar and counter staff in Scotland, the SALPS course is an efficient way of educating the fundamentals of licensing law. The First Aid course is highly recommended for those responsible for emergency first aid in the workplace, from minor injuries to resuscitation. David Dasher, managing director of CPL Online, said: “I’m pleased to announce the launch of the ALPS, SALPS and First Aid courses in the ‘next generation’ format. From mobile learning to language translation, we’ve introduced a range of stimulating features to make the content more accessible for each user. Thanks to our open source big data platform, advanced tracking on user performance and suspicious activity has been a real game changer. Learning and development managers can strategise directly from the detailed reports on trends, patterns, and interactions – looking deeper into the effectiveness of company training.”

 

Former pub licensee opens fish and chip restaurant concept in Birmingham: A former pub licensee has opened a fish and chip restaurant concept in Birmingham. Sarah Thornton has launched Fishylicious off Pitsford Street in the city’s Jewellery Quarter. The restaurant, which features a bright blue exterior, has capacity for 27 diners inside and a further 28 in an outdoor courtyard. It serves traditional fish and chips with tartar sauce and pea puree as well as offering a dessert menu. Thornton, the former licensee of the Lord Clifden, which is also in the Jewellery Quarter, told the Birmingham Post: “Everyone knows fish and chips tastes better by the sea and in fish and chip paper. That’s exactly how I’ll be serving them on the plates. Birmingham is not great for seafood, so I knew it would be something really great for the city. After leaving the Lord Clifden last April, I started looking at potential places to launch. I had three other premises in the Jewellery Quarter fall through for various reasons. And then I came across this. As soon as I saw it, I knew I wanted to paint it blue. It took a while to get the right shade but I think it’s perfect now.”

 

Agents instructed to sell Wiltshire freehold: Agents Davis Coffer Lyons and Savills have been instructed to sell The Barge Inn at Honeystreet, near Pewsey, Wiltshire, off a guide price of £900,000 on behalf of a private client. The three-storey, grade II-listed pub offers open plan seating for up to 60 customers plus a canal side beer garden, and dates to the 1800s. The land also includes a one-acre camping and caravan site that is located in the grounds, as well as a newly-built 3,500 square foot oak barn, which could be converted into holiday accommodation subject to planning consent. Keith Goodwin, associate director, Davis Coffer Lyons, said: “This is not only a very exciting opportunity for a buyer to invest in a traditional public house with heaps of character, but the on-site camping and caravan site provides the potential new owners with a means to expand upon existing trading levels and capitalise on multiple income streams that the site offers.” The pub along with part of the car park and front beer garden are also available to purchase separately from the barn and campsite with a guide price of £550,000.

 

Andrew Brownsword Hotels reports profits lift: Pre-tax profit has risen at the portfolio of luxury hotels owned by businessman Andrew Brownsword, including Gidleigh Park in Devon and five-star The Bath Priory, boosted by increased occupancy rates across the industry. The group operates Gidleigh Park in Devon, The Bath Priory, Lower Slaughter Manor, The Slaughters Country Inn and Buckland Manor in the Cotswolds, Sydney House in Chelsea, and Amberley Castle in West Sussex. It also runs venues in Exeter, Chester, Manchester, Glasgow, and Canterbury city centres under the Abode Hotels brand. The group recently acquired The Old Swan & Minster Mill in Oxfordshire, which becomes the 13th property in the Andrew Brownsword Hotels collection. Andrew Brownsword Hotels saw pre-tax profit of £302,443 in the year to 3 January 2016, up from a figure of £189,919 in 2014/15. Turnover also increased slightly to £18.8m from £18.7m the year before. Brownsword is the entrepreneur behind the Forever Friends brand of cards and gifts as well as a former owner of Bath Rugby.

 

Full speaker schedule for Bar and Nightclub Conference revealed: The full speaker schedule for this year’s Bar and Nightclub Conference, organised by the Association of Licensed Multiple Retailers (ALMR) and Propel, has been revealed. It takes place on Tuesday, 11 October at Bafta, Piccadilly, and follows the successful launch of the event last year. ALMR chief executive Kate Nicholls will provide an update on political and regulatory developments. Phil Tate, chief executive of CGA Strategy, which has retailer specialist CGA Peach as a division, reveals details of new research of usage, areas of growth, food and drink trends and evolution within the UK bar and nightclub market. Toby Smith, chief executive of bar, nightclub and restaurant operator Novus Leisure, will talk about how the company is meeting the needs of customers in London’s evolving bar and nightclub scene, including offer evolution and social media developments. Luke Johnson, sector investor and executive chairman of Brighton Pier Company and investor in Grand Union Group, will speak about his career in the late-night sector starting at Oxford University, set out his reasons for investing in the sector, evolving the offer at the company, and his perspective on the future for the bar and nightclub sector. Serial sector entrepreneur Roy Ellis will talk about the launch of the ground-breaking Albert’s Schloss concept in Manchester a year ago, its USPs, versatility, first-year performance and roll-out potential – and set out the scope of the involvement of his Mission Mars business in Manchester’s late-night scene. Jimmy Bernstein will talk about his 14-strong US bar and live music concept Howl at the Moon. Bernstein was the keynote speaker at this year’s Bar and Nightclub Convention in Las Vegas. Howl at the Moon has sites in key US cities, including Chicago, New York and Orlando, Florida – the company has also licensed the concept to Norwegian Cruise Line, which operates it on four ships. John Leslie, chief executive of Intertain, will talk about evolving the Walkabout brand and opening new sites, working with new comedy partner Comedy Loft, the regulatory regime, its new Birmingham concept 6 on Broad Street and the company’s relationship with backer Better Capital. Leading licensing barrister Philip Kolvin QC will provide a personal perspective on the key legal issues and developments facing bar and nightclub operators in the current climate. There will also be a panel hosted by Nicholls with Alan Miller, chairman of the Night Time Industries Association, Mick McDonnell, national co-ordinator of Best Bar None, Paddy Whur, of Woods Whur, Peter Marks, chief executive of Deltic Group, and Richard Stringer, chief executive of Kornicis, about the challenges, opportunities and threats to the bar and nightclub sector. Tickets are priced at £95 for operators who are ALMR members and £145 for non-ALMR members. Supplier tickets are £145 for ALMR supplier members and £195 for suppliers who are not ALMR members. Tickets can be booked by emailing Jo Charity at jo.charity@propelinfo.com