It is easy to see the many attractions of London for pub operators: premium pricing, an affluent customer base, seven-days-a-week trade and strong like-for-like sales growth compared with the regions. Indeed, Young’s and Fuller’s saw +5.6 per cent and +4.8 per cent year-on-year sales growth respectively in the 52 weeks to March 2016, compared with a national average of just +0.6 per cent*.

Major pub groups are increasingly being compared with casual dining groups as well as their direct rivals. Yet while many of the UK’s most popular casual dining brands (including Côte, Nando’s, Five Guys, Byron and Wagamama) started in London before expanding into the South East and regions, it has been less common for emerging pub groups to follow suit.

Be At One is among the few operators that have been established in the Capital and then successfully rolled out into the regions, but others, such as Laine, Brewhouse & Kitchen and NewWorld Pub Company, emerged outside London before moving in.

However, rising property costs and a scarcity of sites could mean that pub companies wishing to expand rapidly will need to look outside the Capital in their search for new premises. Operating a single venue in a city hundreds of miles from London is never easy, but where operators can quickly build up a cluster of units in a particular region, there is no reason why their success in the Capital cannot be replicated.

If the time comes when an operator is looking to exit its business, demonstrating that a brand or concept has nationwide rollout potential will also have a positive bearing on the value of the overall business and broaden the buyer pool.

Taking the plunge outside the Capital for an established London-based operator is not for the faint-hearted, but seeking specialist guidance from an advisor with a strong regional presence should ensure that the operator isn't left to rue the cost of moving outside its comfort zone.

*Source: Coffer Peach Business Tracker.

Further information

Contact Savills Licensed Leisure team