Ossett Brewery managing director Jamie Lawson has told MCA there is still huge potential for the group’s community wet-led pub model.
The group is currently refurbishing the first pub it took on – in 2003 – the Black Bull in Liversedge, west Yorkshire. Lawson said the pub was the template for further wet-led outlets opened by the group. He said the £120,000 refit was not intended to realign the model but simply enhance existing features.
He said the group would focus on internal investment for the rest of 2016 but intended to ramp up expansion next year with a focus on its wet-led model.
He said: “I still see growth in the traditional community pub market. There’s a tendency to think you have to go for an all-day dining model to see any return on investment but a traditional wet-led pub can do really well if it’s pitched right. We are spending £250,000 to get these places into shape and customers respond to that.”
Over the past year the company has opened two new sites in the Granary Wharf development next to Leeds station, taking its tally there to three. Lawson said all-day dining concept Archie’s and craft beer and pizza Candlebar, which joined existing business Hop, were all performing ahead of expectations.
