City Pub Group has taken on its second pub in Cardiff, after acquiring the Chapel Bar & Restaurant in Churchill Way, MCA has learnt.
The listed group opened its first site in the city, the Pontcanna Inn, earlier this year. Chairman Clive Watson told MCA that as with its other key destinations, the group aimed to create a hub of pubs in Cardiff.
He said there was no reason that with the right sites, the Cardiff estate could not grow to the same size as the eight-strong Cambridge portfolio.
The Chapel has been acquired from a private vendor who ran the site, a renovated Chapel first constructed in 1877, as a restaurant and events space.
Alex Derrick, City Pub Group joint managing director, told MCA: “The Pontcanna has opened really well and Cardiff is a city where we see a lot of potential. The Chapel is a beautiful building and the restaurant operator will be a good complement to the more wet-led model at the Pontcanna.”
Meanwhile Watson told MCA: “Our focus for the moment is on growing our presence in areas where we’re already represented. We could certainly take on more in Cardiff, similarly in Brighton. Could we get to the same size we have in Cambridge? I don’t see why not, given the right sites.”
Watson also talked about the learnings from the group’s vegan pub, Tell Your Friends, which he said was likely to be the group’s first foray into delivery.
He said: “Delivery is something we haven’t shown much interest in but with the offer we have at Tell Your Friends and the part delivery plays in the lives of my daughters’ generation, it’s an obvious route to take.”
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