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9 December 11 Brakspear reaps rewards from capital investment Open
Brakspear reaps rewards from capital investment
Brakspear is enjoying increasing levels of trade from its London pubs after a £500,000 investment in its estate in the capital over the past 18 months.
Although the company is best-known for its quality food-led pubs in and around Henley-on-Thames, Brakspear has a sizeable London estate: 25 of its pubs lie within the M25, including a handful in fashionable locations such as Shoreditch and Clerkenwell.
Chief executive Tom Davies says, "With the Olympic Games under 12 months away, we're confident our investment in our London estate will help Brakspear pubs capture a share of the estimated five million additional visitors to the city over the duration of the games next summer."
In its London developments, Brakspear has worked with small multiple operators, including Fiveeightzero and The Proper Little Pubco, as well as talented chefs. Similar partnerships elsewhere in the Brakspear estate have resulted in some real successes, such as Orwells, the gastropub near Henley taken on by Michelin starred chef Ryan Simpson, The Stoneham Pub & Pizzeria in Brighton run by Martin Webb and three sites in Oxfordshire with Tailor Made Steaks.
Pubs in London to have benefited from investment include:
The Bowler Pub & Kitchen, Clerkenwell: Tenant Lee Curtis trained at Jamie Oliver's 'Fifteen' restaurant before opening The Bowler in 2011. Food is freshly prepared from ingredients sourced as locally as possible, and the pub is targeting business customers with a range of pub classics and an 'express lunch' for £5.
The Owl & Pussycat, Shoreditch: After a major refurbishment in autumn 2010, this pub on the edge of the City reopened with new tenants Fiveeightzero. The downstairs bar buzzes with after-work drinkers, whose thirst has made the pub one of Brakspear's highest barrelage sites. An upstairs room offers more formal dining.
The Albert, Southwark: The pub reopened in summer 2011 after a £70,000 refurbishment including new kitchen and new decor inside and out. New tenants The Proper Little Pubco are targeting a slightly older clientele: classical music, good traditional pub food, emphatically no machines and a quality, 'home from home' pub experience.
Davies said, "Sales in our London sites have held better than elsewhere through the recession, as customers here continue to eat out and indeed 'trade down' from high end restaurants to quality food-led pubs such as ours. We're seeing a healthy uplift in sales at our recent investment sites in London and look forward to seeing this growth continue into 2012."
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