Coal Grill & Bar operator Charterhouse Leisure will focus on the M4 corridor, the West Midlands and the north west for its expansion, chairman James Horler has told M&C Report.
The group yesterday announced plans to add another 18 sites to its six-strong over three years. Upcoming openings will include sites in Cheshire Oaks, Gloucester Quays and Swindon.
Regarding rollout locations, Horler said: “At the moment it’s going to be focused on the M4 corridor, the West Midlands and the north west.
“We can see a concentration in the Midlands. We’re in the M4 corridor at the moment so we can add Swindon to that and Gloucester.”
He revealed: “We’re looking at two more sites in the north west.”
Horler said he could not imagine entering a “remote location”. ”At the moment we wouldn’t look at somewhere like Scotland or Newcastle because we’ve got to make sure we have the infrastructure to support it.”
Leisure and retail parks would also be the focus. “It’s places that have links to something else, be it retail, cinema… There are a lot of offers of different brands on there that have been around a long time. We’d bring a different operation in among that peer group.”
Charterhouse Leisure yesterday reported a 13.2% rise in company EBITDA to £727,000 for the year to the end of February. Sales were £8.4m and restaurant EBITDA increased 12.5% to £1.4m.
It revealed that Beringea and Octopus VCT have invested £800,000, in addition to extra facilities from Barclays to support the rollout.
Horler told M&C Report that like-for-like sales are “quite a bit positive”, with returns on investments “also well up”.
“They weathered the storm very well. I think [chief executive] John Gater has done really well. They’ve been sensible through the downturn and are well-producing coming out, and they’ve hit their numbers all the way through. It’s been a strong performance from them and it’s given everybody involved a lot of confidence to get behind it.”
