5/13/2025 11:17:00 AM
The financial trajectory of Punch Pubs & Co continues to gather pace, reports Pub & Bar. Total revenue for the 28 week period to 25 February 2024 was £168.3m, compared to £165.1m in the prior year. All three divisions of Punch (Leased and Tenanted, Management Partnership and Laine) delivered like-for-like underlying EBITDA growth. Underlying EBITDA for the pub estates before central costs increased by £3.2m to £61.8m. The business says group full-year profitability is expected to grow from the £94.8m of underlying EBITDA for the 12 months to 23 February 2025 to a pro forma run rate EBITDA of £111m at the end of its financial year.
Lane7 plans to open six new UK sites in the coming months, including one with a new "self-serve" games concept, reports The Caterer. Since its 2013 launch in Newcastle, the bowling bar brand has grown to 20 venues across the UK and Europe. Two new Newcastle sites are set for June and July, with further openings under its Gutterball brand in Lincoln (July), Ealing Broadway (August), and Edinburgh (September). Leeds will follow in early 2026. Lane7 attributing its core demographic to "18 to 35-year-olds looking for something a bit different on a night out", as well as post-work groups seeking a less typically corporate venue.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan has announced a £300,000 fund has been made available to support hospitality venues and extend their opening hours advises, the Morning Advertiser. The Summer Streets Fund has been launched following the Government announcement that will give the Mayor new licensing powers, which will allow him to 'call in' blocked licensing applications in nightlife hotspots. Councils will be able to apply for a share of the money which can be put towards the creation of new outdoor eating and drinking areas, the enabling businesses to extend the al fresco footprint, or to extend their opening hours.
A new vodcast has been launched, offering the public a behind-the-scenes look at the realities of running a pub in the modern on-trade, says Pub & Bar. Launched by Heineken SmartDispense, the series is fronted by publican and former model Jodie Kidd, and landlord and Channel 4's First Dates barman Merlin Griffiths. Called 'Three Landlords Walk into a Bar', the vodcast aims to lift the lid on what really happens behind the scenes of a pub. It has been launched following research from the brewer and pub operator, which discovered that 98% of people see the pub as the heart of their communities, but that 59% of them have no idea how to run one.
Dishoom's soon-to-launch London outpost for its Permit Room spin-off brand will feature lodgings, marking the first time the group has moved into the hotel and accommodation space, reports Restaurant Online. Permit room Portobello opened its doors (9 May) in Notting Hill. Inspired in part by the early hotels of Bombay, Permit Room Lodgings will welcome its first guests in June 2025. Permit Room is positioned as being a more drinks-led counterpoint to Dishoom's core restaurant brand, and takes its influence from the 'permit rooms, beer bars and drinking holes' of 1960s and 1970s Bombay.
Chris King, founder of the original Birch hotel, is set to launch a new series of 'life-friendly' hotels and members' clubs, known as Crafted, reports Boutique Hotelier. The brand's debut site - Crafted at Powdermills - will launch later this year in East Sussex, comprising 55 rooms and suites 'inspired by nature'. The hotel is built around a seven-acre private lake, with access to woodland and wildflower fields.
Palé Hall in North Wales opens up restored 17th century pub with rooms, marking a new chapter for the Palé Hall Estate, says Hospitality and Catering News.