According to our sister title M&C Report, the company, which will open its third site in Brighton and 44th in total this evening (26 March), is on track to open 15 sites in 2013 with seven more scheduled to open before August.
It is understood that potential sites for the second half of this year include a Cosy Club in Leicester and Lounge sites in Letchworth Garden City, Falmouth, and Amersham.
The group is due to open Lounges in Chippenham, Rugby, Birmingham, Torquay, Witney, and Kettering plus a seventh Cosy Club in Corn Street in Bristol before the end of August. It is understood that further potential sites for 2014 include a Cosy Club in Leicester and Lounge sites in Letchworth Garden City, Falmouth, and Amersham.
Its latest site, Verano Lounge, on Western Road in Brighton, is the group’s second opening in Brighton in as many weeks following the opening of Alcampo Lounge on London Road in the city earlier this month.
Quietly optimistic
Loungers has spent £450,000 on the Western Road site, which has previously traded as a Loch Fyne and more recently Pinxtos People, which has included significantly re-modeling the ground floor trading area and basement level kitchen.
Chief executive Alex Reilley said: “It’s great to have opened two sites in Brighton to add to Modelo Lounge, which we opened in Hove almost two years ago. Alcampo Lounge has, so far, had a nice, brisk opening achieving gross sales of £30,000 for their first full week and we are quietly optimistic that Verano will trade very nicely given how busy Western Road is and being opposite a Waitrose.
"Whilst less than two miles away from each other, the two new Brighton sites are in diverse areas and are in very different buildings with distinctly different design schemes, which further goes to prove the Lounge model can trade in very different locations within the same city.”
This story was first published by M&C Report. To subscribe to M&C Report, contact Emily Croft on 01293 846578 or email emily.croft@wrbm.com.