Propel’s Multi-Site Database improved for 2024 with unique segmentation: Propel’s leading database, the Multi-Site Database, which provides the details of more than 3,000 multi-site operators, has been redesigned so Premium subscribers will be able to search the data segmented into key industry sectors. This new straightforward segmentation will allow users to search quickly in key categories such as pubs and bars, cafe bakery, quick service restaurants, casual dining, fine dining, hotel and experiential leisure. Subscribers will be able to drill down into the details and updates for these specific areas – so, for example, the circa 640 multi-site operators in the pubs and bars sector and 150 operators in the experiential leisure area can be examined in a stand-alone format. This new functionality will be available later this month when the latest Multi-Site Database is released on Friday, 26 January at midday. An updated Multi-Site Database is published every month, with an average of 50 or so companies added each month. Phil Pemberton, Propel’s director of premium services, said: “The new ability to segment this vital information is unique to the industry and is an element that our Premium subscribers requested. It will provide even more clarity and search capability to each segment of the sector.” A Propel Premium subscription costs an annual sum of £495 plus VAT for operators and £595 plus VAT for suppliers. Companies can now have an unlimited number of people receive access to Propel Premium for a year for £995 plus VAT – whether they are an operator or a supplier. Email kai.kirkman@propelinfo.com today to sign up. The Premium subscription service currently has more than 4,000 subscribers.

UK retailers report subdued Christmas spending: British retailers reported lacklustre sales around Christmas, as a leading trading body warned that shoppers and retailers are set for a “challenging” year ahead. BBC News reports that the British Retail Consortium (BRC), the trade body for supermarkets and other big stores, said spending in cash terms in December was 1.7% higher than a year earlier, representing a fall in purchases after inflation is taken into account, and significantly lower than the 6.9% seen the year before, according to the BRC-KMPG retail sales monitor. The BRC warned that higher living costs will continue to squeeze household budgets. It pointed out that firms will also face higher business rates as well as potential disruption to shipments via the Red Sea. Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the BRC, suggested that “weak consumer confidence continued to hold back spending” over the key festive trading period. Post-Christmas sales also failed to draw in customers to spend more on bigger-ticket items like furniture or homeware. Paul Martin, UK head of retail at KPMG, said “cautious consumers are battening down the hatches” so retailers should expect demand to be down in the first few months of 2024. Despite falls in inflation, which measures how quickly prices rise, or recent cuts to National Insurance rates, “the constant drop of economic challenges [consumers] have faced over the last two years has finally come home to roost,” he said. Separate figures released on Tuesday also suggested that shoppers held back on buying presents over Christmas, prioritising saving their money for travel, tickets for gigs and festivals instead. Holiday bookings, Glastonbury ticket sales and cinema releases such as Wonka all helped boost spending in December, although the shopping frenzy “fizzled”, according to data from Barclays. Consumer card spending grew 2.3% year-on-year in December, well below November’s growth of 2.9%. It said spending in bars and pubs climbed 7.9% in December despite rail strikes. Spending in restaurants declined, falling 8.8%, but this was the sector’s best month since last August.

US group ditches new Sphere venue plan in London: The American entertainment group that was backing a 21,500-capacity Sphere venue in east London has pulled the plug on the project after claiming it had become a “political football” between the government and the mayor of London. The Times reports that Sphere Entertainment has withdrawn its planning application for the “glowing orb” near the Olympic Park in Stratford, saying that the process had descended into a turf war between Sadiq Khan and Michael Gove, the levelling-up secretary. The planned 300ft-high structure, similar to one that was opened in Las Vegas last year, was intended to be an entertainment, sports and concert venue with advanced and “immersive” sound and light technology, including the world’s largest and highest-resolution LED screen. In November, Khan ruled that the venue “would result in an unacceptable negative impact on local residents”. Last month, Gove said he would review the mayor’s decision via his “call in” powers. However, James Dolan, the billionaire who leads the Madison Square Garden group, told The Times that he had lost patience with what he said was political interference in the process. “We felt we put in a very good application that got support from the appropriate places and followed the governmental process. It was hijacked by the mayor, who did not follow his own process and made it a political thing.” Asked whether the group could be tempted back to London, he replied: “No. We’re done.” In a letter to the government’s Planning Inspectorate, Richard Constable, of MSG Entertainment, wrote: “After spending millions of pounds acquiring our site in Stratford and collaboratively engaging in a five-year planning process with numerous governmental bodies – including the local planning authority, who approved our plans following careful review – we cannot continue to participate in a process that is merely a political football between rival parties.”

Fitness First struggles to attract new members as home working hits central London gyms: Fitness First has blamed working from home for its struggles to lure people back to inner city gyms. The Telegraph reports the chain said recovery from the pandemic had been “slower than anticipated” after membership was “decimated” by lockdowns. Fitness First took in £33.2m in membership fees last year, newly filed accounts show, compared to £50.8m in 2019. The cost of a full membership varies from club to club, ranging from £109 a month for access to its Baker Street club to £42 a month at its Brighton branch. “The return of city workers, especially in central London, has been slower than anticipated,” finance director Anthony Riley wrote in the company’s accounts. “As the majority of the company’s gyms are city centre based within close proximity to offices, the change in behaviour has been particularly impactful.” It comes as many people continue to work at least part of the week from home post-pandemic, despite concerns about the impact on productivity and growth. Riley wrote in the accounts: “The reduction in revenue across the gym portfolio is considered to be an ongoing risk to the company.” Fitness First embarked on a formal restructuring process last April, announcing plans to shut gyms and negotiate rent cuts with landlords in a bid to put the company’s finances on a more sustainable footing. The plan was approved by the High Court in June despite a challenge from landlords. Nine gyms have been shut since then, with six of them in London. They include central locations such as Holborn and Aldwych near the Strand, as well as a gym in Spitalfields near the City. Justin Musgrove, the company’s chief executive, added: “Fitness First has completed its restructuring and now has a stable estate of twenty-eight clubs.”