Insights Hub

LEISURE

On the 20^th anniversary of Travelodge’s presence on the UK coastline the hotel chain has announced 26 seaside towns that they are targeting in what they describe as the “rebirth of British seaside resorts and coastal towns”. Having played a 'pivotal role’ in the regeneration programme in Rhyl and the changing holiday habits of Britons they plan to work with Local Authorities inviting them to participate in their development programme that would see Travelodge building hotels on surplus authority land. The targeted districts are: Aberystwyth, Bognor Regis, Bournemouth, Bude, Canterbury/Whitstable, Deal/Sandwich, Eastbourne, Falmouth, Folkestone, Guernsey, Hove, Jersey, Lerwick, Looe / Fowey, Lowestoft, Newquay, Oban, Penarth, Penzance, Pwllheli, Shoreham-by-Sea, St Ives, Tenby, Truro, Weston Super Mare and Weymouth.

Deliveroo has confirmed it will be making its new ‘Food Procurement’ service available to all restaurants in the UK this summer. It claims to be ‘leveraging its size, existing partnerships with both restaurants and suppliers and industry know-how’ to help negotiate deals for ingredients, cleaning supplies and packaging products thus helping to make savings of between 20% and 40%.

Sainsbury’s has become the first major supermarket to partner with Deliveroo as it launches a service that will see a range of 50 baked pizzas available for delivery to customers alongside other sweet and savoury snacks, sides, salads and soft drinks. The service will initially be available from their Cambridge, Selly Oak, West Hove, Pimlico and Hornsey stores.

RETAIL

Hammerson has secured two new store openings with LEGO at the Bullring in Birmingham and Westquay in Southampton. The new shops are LEGO’s only new openings in the UK and are expected to open ahead of the Christmas season.

H&M owned fashion retail brand Weekday is set to open three new stores this year taking their UK total to five. The retailer will open a 5,000 sq ft store on Shoreditch High Street and a 2,900 sq ft store on Berwick Street in Soho taking their London sites to four. They will also join Monki, another of the H&M fascias, who are set to open a 5,000 sq ft store in Sheffield with an 8,000 sq ft store, both of which will be located on the ground floor of Grosvenor House and open in November.

Homebase has agreed a deal with Bathstore to buy 44 stores safeguarding more than 150 jobs.  The remaining Bathstore shops will continue to trade whilst stock is sold off with around 200 employees still working at the stores set to close. Homebase will also open a significant number of Bathstore concessions in its own stores over the next 18 months which will be supported by Bathstore’s digital business which will continue to trade independently from the Homebase website.

German fashion retailer Gerry Weber has announced it will close all of its UK stores and concentrate on its wholesale business as part of the wider restructuring plans. The company received $55m in funding from Robus Capital Management and Whitebox Advisors LLP that was described as ‘a milestone for securing its future’.

Supermarket chain Waitrose have announced the closure of seven stores leaving around 650 jobs at risk. Lidl are to acquire three sites in Bromley, Oadby and Wollaton with a fourth in Sandhurst, Berkshire being acquired by an unnamed buyer. Three further shops will close: the Marlow store, the Stevenage store and the small store in British Airways Headquarters.

PROPERTY 

Planning has been granted for a large Dunelm store at Wolstanton Retail Park in Newcastle-under-Lyme creating around 50 jobs. The two-storey site will include over 40,000 sq ft of space with a sales area of around 35,000 sq ft and a 1,500 sq ft café. The store will be built between Matalan and Marks & Spencer on land currently used for car parking.

Station Road Dev Co Ltd, that is controlled by global hotel investors Frank Truman in partnership with Breithorn Developments and Legacy hotels and Resorts, has secured planning approval for a mixed-use development in Reading. The development, to be called No. 1 Reading, is situated at 29-35 Station Road and will see the former Norwich Union building converted into a hotel, restaurant, bar and office complex.

Private Equity group Glendower Capital has acquired the controlling stake in department store chain Liberty from BlueGem for £300m. Having acquired Liberty in 2010 for £32m, BlueGem refinanced in 2014 reducing its stake in the department store to around 40% however, this still sees a significant return for them. Having started the search for a new owner for fashion retailer Jack Wills, BlueGem are understood to have received bids from Philip Day this week as well offers from restructuring company Hilco and investment company Alteri.