28/02/2023 10:47:00
Experiential retro arcade bar NQ64 will launch its biggest site to date in May 2023 with an opening in Old Street, Shoreditch, reports Morning Advertiser. The arcade bar concept, which has nine sites, will bring retro gaming, cocktails and hip-hop soundtrack to east London, plus a new food offer with a partner set to be named shortly.
Wells & Co. has reported its results for the year ending 2 October 2022, in which the Peter Wells-led business saw encouraging growth. Pub & Bar reports that despite a trading year which included a cost-of-living crisis, political turbulence and the Omicron Covid-19 variant, sales income from continuing operations increased by 81% to £55.2m when compared to 2021. Operating profit before exceptional costs was £3.3m; a growth of £4.9m from 2021. In the financial year, Wells & Co. spent £3.7m converting eight new managed pubs, taking the total in the UK to 30.
The merger between Shaftesbury and Capital & Counties Properties (Capco) is due to complete next month having been given the green light by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), advises Big Hospitality. Over the past two months, the CMA has been examining whether the £3.5bn deal between two West End landlords, which was announced in June last year, would lead to a 'substantial lessening of competition'. Now it has concluded that the merger can go ahead, with the deal expected to complete on 6 March.
Pubs with rooms business the Inn Collection Group has announced plans to more than double its headcount from 900 to almost 2,000, reports The Caterer. The group has undergone rapid expansion since 2019 and is set to see its trading premises grow by almost a third this calendar year as refurbishments are completed across venues. The business said some of the positions will be to assemble a team at Harrogate's Hotel St George, where the company had recently been forced to announce redundancies. It said that problems within the construction industry and associated supply chain having a knock-on effect on refurbishments left the company with "no option but to make those cuts at the time to secure the long-term future for the site, but now sees the group looking to the future as those difficulties ease".
The volume of corporate deals within the UK's hospitality sector reached its highest level for five years in 2022, analysis by law firm Irwin Mitchell has revealed. Examination of Experian's MarketIQ database showed there were 160 trade agreements during 2022 in the food and beverage services sector, 52 of which involved pub companies compared to 49 in 2021. In addition, the average number of merger and acquisition (M&A) activity for pubs over the last 10 years was 48, meaning last year was above average and the third highest in the last decade, reports Morning Advertiser.
The sustainability leader from Greene King has said that it is vital for the hospitality industry and farmers to work collaboratively to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, reports Pub & Bar.