industry news
Hotels & Tax – Wetherspoons
Insights
and a BREXIT vote campaigned for and won,
you’re left thinking where next and how.
The performance of Wetherspoons is well
documented across the financial and hospitality
press. It is a great business, even if they go on a
little too much about BREXIT, nonetheless the
Chairman speaks in a very common sense way
and so does the offer in their outlets – it just
seems to make sense.
There were a couple of interesting notions that
stood out. One is the hotel offer. JDW have
developed one in Barrow-in-Furness that does
very well. For those of you that don’t know
where Barrow is, then go to the Lake District
and turn left to the farthest point west of
England. Home of historic ship-building, this
working town is very salt of the earth and with a
As does the way they seem to go about things.
The press conference held for journalists the
other day, the first that I have attended, was a
completely different format than imagined. 14
journalists around the table with Tim Martin,
the CEO and FD in a very intimate, free-ranging
Q & A.
strong working ethic. Look out from the sands
and you can see the Isle of Man. Wetherspoons
occupies the former Co-operative department
store premises which they had occupied since
1889. This hotel has performed very well
according to Mr Martin and they are set to open
more. He reckons the chain will open between
50 and 100 – a total of c.150 in the next 3-10
years above good pubs. A bit of a broad target
to be completely focussed upon but considering
their value proposition, it would not be
surprising for a chain of Wetherspoons hotels to
be more of a force.
Long gone are the days of Wetherspoons the
one-man band, selling beer at £1 pint, although
sometimes it can sound like it, and frankly that
is comforting in many ways. With sustained
growth and development over at least 10 years
Anchor at Aspley Guise
reopens after £600,000
refurbishment
Successful pub operator Andrew Coath and
Bedfordshire brewer and pub company Charles
Wells have reopened the Anchor at Aspley Guise
near Milton Keynes following a transformative
£600,000 refurbishment.
The new Anchor, which has space for 96
diners and drinkers, reflects the best in British
design blending the traditional with the
contemporary to offer a relaxed, home from
home environment.
A warm welcome awaits customers from the
Epic Managers team led by Coath, who also
runs pubs including 185 Watling Street in
Towcester and who previously ran venues in
Salford, near Milton Keynes; Woburn and
Bedford.
Coath says: “We are really excited to have
opened the doors to the fantastic new Anchor
and are delighted to be working with Charles
Wells to have created this eclectic British
pub. The Anchor will be the heart of the local
community, but also offer an exciting new
eating and drinking venue for people in Milton
Keynes, Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire and
beyond.”
the World Of Hospitality
Grind open their very own roastery
this September
Founded five years ago, by entrepreneur David Abrahamovitch
and musician Kaz James, Shoreditch Grind was designed to bring
the ultra high-quality coffee experience of Kaz’s hometown,
Melbourne, to East London. Since then, Grind has grown to six
locations across London that serve coffee, cocktails and food
from day to night.
When Grind launched its crowdfunding campaign in summer
2015, they promised to build a state of the art coffee roastery to
supply coffee to their locations around London. After storming
through their £750k target to raise a total of £1.3m, one year
later Grind has now delivered on that promise, with a state of the
art roastery in an incredible converted warehouse –alongside
a barista training lab and space for the growing Grind team.
Remarkably, the building has a long history with coffee – it was
originally built for coffee storagein 1895. The new Grind HQ is
in the heart of Shoreditch, a few minutes walk from the original
Shoreditch Grind locationon Old Street Roundabout.
Grind open their very own roastery this September 5
From here, new Head Roaster Howard works with Grind Head
of Coffee Sam to taste, select, and roast the coffee before it’s
packed and shipped around London, twice a week. Around the
world, coffee is harvested at different times of year – and Howard
and Sam work closely with a team of boutique importers,
guaranteeing fair pay to farmers, as well as investing in projects to
improve the communities that they rely so much on.
Coffee is also delivered to Grind’s growing base of wholesale
partners – the team have even found time to create a bespoke
blend, Twitter Grind, only available at Twitter HQ, as well as
recently roasting up a one-off blend for the Facebook Summer
Fiesta. Grind havealso been busy helping Canadian cashmere
aficionados Kit & Ace at their opening on Redchurch Street, and
providing coffee, training and support to London’s PRESScold
pressed juice brand.
Customers of Grind sites will continue to enjoy the Grind House
Blend when ordering, and with the new roastery they will now be
able to purchase the house blend in each outpost.
Al fresco dining spaces to the front and rear
of the pub offer a further tranquil setting for
customers to unwind over a meal or drink.
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