27/10/2026 09:35:00
The group behind Roxy Ball Room has unveiled a new pub concept, Pub & Bar reports. Opening on Merrion Street in Leeds, 'Love, Jackie' is the latest concept from Leeds-based Professionals at Play, the group behind Roxy Ball Room and King Pins. The venue features competitive socialsing elements that the group is known for, such as darts, pool, shuffleboard and karaoke, but in an Irish pub-style setting. The pub will pour all three well-known Irish stouts, Guinness, Beamish and Murphy's. Live sport, happy hours, open karaoke nights and weekend live music brunches are also on the cards.
Coaching Inn Group is planning to invest between £8m and £10m in capex during 2027 as the business focuses on accommodation, acquisitions and upgrading its existing estate, the Morning Advertiser reports. The 2027 programme will include significant investment in existing properties, including a refurbishment of the Royal Oak in Welshpool, alongside full refurbishments at two sites transferred from RedCat in February. Bedrooms will remain one of the group's main areas of investment, with 15 new rooms currently being added at the Feathers in Ledbury and further opportunities identified across the estate. Acquisitions will remain one of the Coaching Inn Group's three biggest priorities for 2027.
Hospitality group Heartwood Collection has acquired The Angel Hotel in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire. The historic coaching inn will undergo a multi-million-pound refurbishment before reopening in summer 2027 as The Angel Inn, a 47-bedroom pub with rooms. The Angel Inn will join Heartwood Collection's growing portfolio of 36 pubs and pubs with rooms, becoming its first pub with rooms in Warwickshire, CLH News reports.
Punch Pubs & Co has revealed its full-year results for the 52 weeks ended 09 August 2026, with the pubco's EBITDA passing £100m, writes Pub & Bar. Revenue at the Andy Spencer-led business was up 11.8% to £377.8m (2025: £337.9m), while underlying EBITDA was up 8.1% to £106.4m (2025: £98.4m). Punch says the strong profit growth has been driven by positive like-for-like performance across both its Leased & Tenanted division and its Pub Partnerships portfolio. Punch says it has also grown profits from its pubs transferred from Leased & Tenanted to Pub Partnerships, which saw 96 transfers in the year vs 36 in prior year period. During the year, Punch invested £68.2m of capital expenditure of which £56m was spent investing in its core pub estate and £12.2m on recently acquired pubs.
Honest Burgers has closed its only Smash + Grab smashburger site, located near London's Liverpool Street, The Caterer reports. The burger chain converted an existing premises to the quick service spinoff in late 2024. The concept launched with the backing of a crowdfunding campaign that raised £2.7m in 2023. Last year the company bought 12 former GBK sites spread across London, the south east, the Midlands and East Anglia. Honest Burgers currently runs 45 UK restaurants and plans to quadruple the size of its business by 2030.
Popular breakfast and brunch brand Pablo's will make its London debut in January 2027 after signing its first franchise agreement with Scott Collins, founder of BLOODsports, Restaurant Online confirms. The six-strong brand will open a permanent kitchen inside the Covent Garden sports bar and is targeting at least five further openings across the UK by mid-2027.
Sector confidence rebounds to highest level in over two years. Optimism among hospitality bosses has rallied following a strong Q3, but independent operators remain under pressure ahead of the autumn Budget, the Morning Advertiser reports.