The Deltic Group is set to carry out 15 refurbishments in the next financial year, spending up to £9m, chief executive Peter Marks has told M&C.
He also told M&C the company’s first foray into daytime trading with its Bar & Beyond concept in Chelmsford had proved a success.
The format centres around a bar, which opens in the late afternoon and trades until the early hours, and a more music-led Beyond area at the back, which operates at night time only.
Marks said: “We are pretty much beating budget every week. It has surprised me in that it’s quite bold in design and there was a certain amount of trepidation about whether the provincial market would take to it. But they very much have and that has given us enormous confidence to push on.
“We have got a surprisingly early trade in Chelmsford. I can’t say whether that is going to be the same in other areas because it will depend on the particular sites and locations. But in this site it’s definitely been worth opening during the day and seven days a week.”
Deltic also runs the bar element of Bar & Beyond as a standalone concept in Canterbury, Steinbeck & Shaw. The company also plans to put the concept into its Pryzm sites in Bristol and Cardiff. He said it had not yet been determined whether it would go into the newest Pryzm - the former Gatecrasher in Birmingham, which will open in the summer.
On the pipeline of refurbs for the year, Marks said: “It is my intention to do 15 refurbs in the year from March.
“It will be in the range of £6m to £8m and it might go as high as £9m. We know we have to spend money to get our clubs up to the standard we want them and we are willing and able to do that.”
