4/23/2025 9:38:00 AM
The BBQ smokehouse brand, which was acquired by pub giant Greene King in 2022, has said it sees a "substantial opportunity" to grow despite wider challenges facing businesses in the UK restaurant sector. It comes amid a backdrop of rising business taxes and labour costs this month, as well as wider economic uncertainty and concerns this could impact consumer spending. However, the brand said it has seen "strong" sales continue over recent months after continued investment from Greene King to support its growth ambitions. The companies said they will continue to invest heavily to open 10 new sites a year until at least 2027, with plans to triple the size of the chain by 2030, writes The Standard.
Pub and bar goers of Surrey will be excited to learn that Heartwood Inns will open its latest location in Godalming this summer, following a multi-million-pound renovation, advises Pub & Bar. The former Beefeater, now renamed as The Ragged Robin, was acquired by Heartwood from Whitbread in May 2024 and will reopen on 17 June. The property features 19 boutique bedrooms, 200 internal dining and drinking seats, and an additional 124 outdoor covers.
The vegan burger chain backed by Formula One driver Sir Lewis Hamilton has closed its remaining UK restaurants six years after its launch, confirms The Caterer. The chain was founded in 2019 and at one point grew to eight London restaurants with the backing of Hamilton and actor Leonardo DiCaprio. It was valued at £51m after completing a multi-million-pound funding round in 2021 and announced plans to expand to 30 sites across the capital. However, progress stalled, and it closed four London restaurants at the end of 2023 due to a "decrease in footfall".
Preliminary first-quarter 2025 revenue per available room (RevPAR) results have pointed to softer trading performance for UK hotels, according to new CoStar data. The report stated that cooler demand patterns adversely impacted revenue results as 2025 began. Despite a slightly stronger January, RevPAR started to trend downwards from February, with rates starting to decline first. March posted the "weakest" results as occupancy and rates witnessed year-over-year drops. Easter calendar shifts further exacerbated March results. In 2024, the Easter holidays fell on the last weekend in March, while this year, the holiday period has shifted by about three weeks, with school holidays starting in the second week of April. As a result, April is likely to experience "stronger" trading compared with last year, as last April was adversely affected by bad weather and the Easter shift, says Hotel Owner.
The owners of Veeraswamy have petitioned King Charles to help save the Michelin-starred central London restaurant amid an ongoing row with its landlord, The Crown Estate, over its future. Ranjit Mathrani and Mamita Panjabi, who co-own Veeraswamy through their MW Eat Group, have called on the King and the Crown Commissioners to renew the restaurant's lease, which is set to expire in June. It comes after Mathrani revealed that The Crown Estate wants to take the Veeraswamy site back in order to carry out a 12-month renovation of the building in which it's housed, a move that would see the restaurant space converted into offices. The Crown Estate has told Veeraswamy, which is reputed to be the 'UK's oldest Indian restaurant' having originally opened within Victory House on Regent Street in 1926, that its lease will not be renewed after it expires this summer, writes Restaurant Online.
Three Acre Brewery, in Blackboys, East Sussex, is hoping to transform a 150-year-old railway signal box into a micropub, says the Morning Advertiser.