RCS - Loungers PLC - Loungers opens 200th Lounge

LoungersAnnouncement

13/09/2023 07:15

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RNS Number : 2305M  Loungers PLC  13 September 2023

 

 

 

 

13 September 2023

Loungers plc

("Loungers" or the "Group")

 

200(th) Lounge opens

Expecting to create well in excess of 1,000 new jobs in the current year

 

Loungers, a leading operator of all day café/bar/restaurants across the UK
under the Lounge, Cosy Club and Brightside brands, is delighted to announce
that it has opened its 200(th) Lounge - Verdetto Lounge in Buckingham.  The
landmark site, like all Lounges, will aim to be a home-from-home for its
customers, offering excellent all-day food and drink, with a real focus on
making a positive impact on the local community.

 

The emphasis on community is a fundamental aspect of every Lounge. Each new
Lounge opening results in an investment of nearly £1m into the local high
street and the creation of up to 30 new jobs on average. Once open, the Lounge
team work hard to make close connections in their local area, working with
community groups and nurturing charity partnerships. Facilitating and
organising up to 10,000 events per year held within its Lounges, from parent
and baby groups and coffee mornings to quiz nights and painting classes,
Loungers uses its sites as places to bring communities together in an
authentic and mutually beneficial way.

 

Loungers recently stated its firm belief that there is scope for at least 600
Lounges across the UK, and also announced that it intends to open 34 new sites
across its three brands in the current financial year alone. Today's 200(th)
Lounge opening brings the total estate size up to 238, including 35 Cosy Clubs
and 3 Brightsides.

 

 

Alex Reilley, Chairman and co-founder of Loungers, said:

 

"We are hugely proud of the positive impact that our sites have had on local
communities right across the UK since opening the first Lounge 21 years ago.
We are determined to continue playing a major role in breathing new life into
high streets, as well as creating and sustaining much needed local employment.
Time and time again we've seen that the opening of a Lounge has a really
positive knock-on effect on the businesses around it and, of course, on the
local employment market. Last year alone we created around 1,000 new jobs
through new site openings and are on course to comfortably exceed that figure
in the current year.

 

To be opening our 200(th) Lounge is a fantastic landmark, but there is lots
more for us to go for. We firmly believe that there is scope to have at least
three times that number of Lounges in the longer term, and we are more
ambitious than ever before about our plans for the future."

 

 

 

For further information please contact:

 Powerscourt (Financial Public Relations)       Tel: +44 (0) 207 250 1446

 Rob Greening / Nick Hayns / Elizabeth Kittle

Notes to Editors

Loungers operates through its two established complementary brands - Lounge
and Cosy Club - in the UK hospitality sector.  A Lounge is a neighbourhood
café/bar combining elements of coffee shop culture, the British pub and
dining. There are 200 Lounges nationwide.  Lounges are principally located in
secondary suburban high streets and small town centres.  The sites are
characterised by informal, unique interiors with an emphasis on a warm,
comfortable atmosphere, often described as a "home from home". Cosy Clubs are
more formal bars/restaurants offering reservations and table service but share
many similarities with the Lounges in terms of their broad, all-day offering
and their focus on hospitality and culture.  Cosy Clubs are typically located
in city centres and large market towns.  Interiors tend to be larger and more
theatrical than for a Lounge, and heritage buildings or first-floor spaces are
often employed to create a sense of occasion.  There are 35 Cosy Clubs
nationwide, with a 36(th) opening in October 2023.

Loungers launched its third brand, a roadside dining concept called
Brightside, in November 2022. The first Brightside location opened on the A38,
south of Exeter, in February 2023, the second in Saltash near Plymouth in June
2023, and the third in Honiton on the A303 in August 2023.

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