Rekom UK: ‘We have a new cluster strategy’

Rekom UK is looking to grow through a ‘cluster’ expansion strategy, chief executive Peter Marks has told MCA.

Speaking on The Conversation, Marks said the business, formerly Deltic Group, had an updated strategy driven by its new owners, Danish company Rekom.

“They like to effectively have one mothership venue in a town and then a number of other smaller bars,” said Marks. So if the business opened a nightclub like Pryzm in Bristol for example, then it would look to open four or five other brands within that town.

“We know that we can’t grow by nightclubs alone, simply because the large nightclubs we have are not just available in the number that they’d need to be,” he said.

He said the cluster strategy would see more bars open in each of the big UK cities, with “some British and some Danish brands brought to them”.

The Deltic business enter an emergency sales process last October following six months of complete closure, with the Nordic nightlife operator emerging as the successful buyer, acquiring Deltic out of administration for £10m.

During The Conversation, Marks also talked about the long-awaited reopening of its nightclubs on freedom day being marred by the bombshell news from the government that it will in fact make Covid passports mandatory for nightclub venues from September.