Chapman group on buying spree
By Angela Frewin
Leisure operator the Chapman Group has snapped up two hotels for about £450,000 each as part of a rapid expansion drive that could add at least two more hotels and as many as 20 pubs to its 11-strong portfolio.
The family-run business, created in 1983 by Christopher and Delia Chapman in Worthing, West Sussex, recently sold 12 pubs to the Greene King pub chain, raising between £6m and £7m to fund its growth plans.
Its first hotel, bought from Greene King, is Gloucester's 550-year-old New Inn (Caterer, 5 March, page 8). The Grade I-listed building currently comprises six bar-restaurants and 12 bedrooms. Chapman will be spending £100,000 to reconvert offices into 22 bedrooms, and create Victorian-style tearooms.
The group has also bought the 34-bedroom Belle Vue hotel in Eastbourne, East Sussex, and operations director Richard Pipe said it was close to sourcing two more hotels.
The group now includes the two hotels; nightclub Liberty's, opened in Newhaven last week; and the Dickens-themed Great Expectations pub-restaurant, which opened in Reading five weeks ago.
Pipe said that the group was also negotiating a number of new pubs in such areas as Bristol, Ramsgate, Dover and Folkestone, and expected to pick up a large number in one fell swoop.
He believed 20 pubs "would not be unreasonable".
The group is concentrated in the south-east of England, but is keen to push northwards and westwards.
BURGER King boosted its second-half operating profits last year by £14m to £99m, although turnover dropped by £18m to £436m.
It attributes much of the profits growth to an improved performance in Europe, where it pulled out of the unprofitable French market. Although worldwide sales fell by 1.5%, European sales were up by 6.5% and those in the UK (which had been knocked back by the BSE scare) increased by 9%.
Operating profits for the whole year were £13m ahead at £174m, and turnover £16m down to £861m.
Meanwhile, six new Burger King restaurants opened in 1997 helped to double pre-tax profits at franchisee Gowrings to £1.4m last year. The leisure division, which consists principally of the Burger King restaurants, saw operating profits jump from £927,000 to £1.58m, with like-for-like sales up by 5%.
This was down to strong marketing, fewer discounted promotions and better purchasing, the company said last week.
BRISTOL-based restaurant chain BYO plans to expand into Manchester and London after securing £1m of funding from investment group 3i.
BYO, formed last year from the merger of Muset and Innstep, has three restaurants in Bristol and one in Cardiff. It is to open others in Bath and Manchester before targeting the capital.
Winner by a nose
Amadeus Catering has won a one-year contract to become sole caterer at Warwick Racecourse. The £350,000 contract involves two restaurants, eight bars, 22 hospitality suites, four snack food areas, and managing various concessions.
On with the Old
The Old English Pub Company has bought the 15-bedroom Old Manse hotel (above) in Cotswolds village Bourton-on-the-Water for about £1.2m, plus the 17-bedroom Kings Arms hotel in Westerham for an undisclosed sum. Robert Barry was agent for both.
Pizza leases
PizzaExpress has acquired a 25-year lease on a site in Bridge Street, Maidenhead, for a £25,000 premium and annual rent of £19,500. It has also bought the lease until January 2022 on the former Sixes tapas bar-restaurant in Upper James Street, London, at rent of £38,000 a year.
Fair bank fair price
Saylesh Mandavia has bought the 23-bedroom Fairbank hotel in Margate, Kent, for more than the £130,000 asked by agent Fleurets on behalf of retiring couple Peter and Valerie Waple.
Down on the farm
Hoteliers Robin and Diana Owen have bought Lordleaze hotel and restaurant near Chard in Somerset. The former farmhouse has 16 bedrooms, with planning permission for another eight. Agent Robert Barry was seeking offers around £600,000.
