Two entrepreneurs are aiming to revive the tradition of the great British inn by opening up to 20 in south east England over the next five years.
Urban Inns is the brainchild of David Catling and Don MacIntyre who are in the process of securing their third site for development following the launch of their first one – The Old Ship – in Hackney earlier this year. A second site – The Coach & Horses – is due to open in Isleworth in the autumn.
The concept for the business is simply a revival of the traditional British coaching inn for the 21st Century. Customers can drink in the bar and eat British, locally sourced food in the restaurant before retiring upstairs into one of bedrooms designed by Matt Rawlinson.
“We are not trying to be a gastro pub or a boutique hotel, it’s all about modernising the British inn, making it female friendly and trying to make it affordable. We are very conscious of price points,” said Catling.
Urban Inns’ core target market is young business travellers, but because of the price –†rooms are £99 a night for a double and £79 for a single – and locations Catling also expects rooms to appeal to friends and relatives visiting nearby residents.
Catling said although the business is still new, the company is pushing forward with its expansion plans and is looking for more sites to develop around the South East with plans to have 20 by 2013.
"We are looking for sites with a minimum of 10 and a maximum of 20 rooms that are in secondary high street locations or out of town. There`s no-one out there doing what we are doing so we think we have a really good product that could do really well."