Bruce Gillingham Pollard are delighted to have been appointed by Landsec to join their new retail leasing agent panel,  working across the hospitality portfolio which includes food & beverage, fitness, leisure and hotels.

The panel, which has been formed as part of Landsec’s new operating model launched late last year, seeks to “redefine the traditional retail leasing agent model”.  BGP are one of 6 retained companies, where each agent will work collaboratively with Landsec’s brand team to “service new and existing retail customers whilst supporting the business in finding new brands to curate the right brand mix across its destinations”.

The move is aiming to reflect Landsec’s efforts to drive performance and build a more “customer-centric” approach, and will challenge the traditional, location-led agent structure by aligning advisers to specific brands and sectors. It says that creates a more “transparent, sustainable model encouraging a partnership-led, portfolio wide approach”.

Bruce Gillingham Pollard managing director, Tracey Pollard, “ we are delighted to continue our long-standing relationship with Landsec and believe their customer-centric approach to leasing is very much aligned to our own strategy across the F&B and Leisure sectors. We’ve always specialised in taking a concept-led approach to identifying the right operators who are a fit with a specific location, its demographics, and the aspirations of the landlords. We track F&B and leisure operators as they develop and have been involved in several launching into the UK regions following debuts in London.

BGP connects Episode 5

“Houses close to streets full of independent retailers sell for 20% more” evening standard

On our next instalment of #BGPconnects Evie North speaks to Chris Daly of Greenland U.K.

They discuss the rising trend of London Neighbourhoods, the impact covid-19 had on this trend and more specifically on the evolution of The Ram Quarter.

We reported in our trends of 2021 about the rise of the neighbourhoods, and we’ve seen this trend to continue to grow throughout the year.

There’s few better examples then our letting to Josh Katz for his new ‘grown up’ concept Carmel on Lonsdale Road, Queens Park.

Marketing of 25 Lonsdale Road commenced midway through 2020 and we received offers from multiple best in class occupiers coming out the other side of the first lockdown. This further heightened our awareness of the popularity of the London neighbourhoods.

Our clients, Akoya ownership has been a truly positive one and Lonsdale Road is a popular destination for locals and visitors alike.

There’s further plans for Lonsdale Road with public realm enhancement works due to start in the new year.

Watch this space for more exciting announcements for f&b on Lonsdale Road…

Carmel opened just a few weeks ago and are a fantastic addition to the street and neighbours including Milk Beach. If you haven’t been already, this is one to visit.

Activity in the leisure investment sector has been slow to say the least. Yes, hotels and pubs have recovered quickly as an asset class, mainly driven by long leases and/or underlying residual values, but the more typical cinema-anchored schemes have been completely overlooked, and almost certainly “over-sold”.

Consumer spending would suggest the signs of recovery are out there. Leisure spend in the UK is expected to reach £98 bn next year, just below the record £111 bn in 2019. Business failures have led to the old guard such as Frankie & Benny’s and Chiquitos being replaced with new names, making leisure schemes more relevant to a younger target consumer. Our Head of National Leasing, Victoria Broadhead would concur “we are seeing more regional operators taking space such as Bok Shop, Hubbox, Mowgli and Pizza Punks in more prime locations, but providing the customer with more choice. This in turn compliments the leisure operators who sit next to them”.

With cinemas remaining a vital anchor to many leisure schemes, there have been deep concerns about the post-pandemic success and longevity of the cinema sector. At the recent LPF Cinema Seminar, Tim Richards CEO VUE Cinemas, was extremely optimistic about the longevity of the sector, both in terms of the theatre-going public, but in the ability of the cinema to adapt to consumer needs. He sees the Cinema as not just movie entertainment, but a venue to host other live events, or launches of TV shows such Game of Thrones or E-Sports competitions. That said, No Time to Die, is already the 4th highest grossing movie of all time in the UK at £90m+ box office sales, and Bond may yet be credited with saving the UK Cinema industry. leisurepropertyforum.co.uk/event/the-cinema-sector-life-after-covid/ 

There isn’t much evidence yet to support a rush back into the leisure investment sector, but we believe it will come. There are currently 3 cinema-anchored schemes in the market today, namely Ilford, Swansea and Paignton. We confidently predict that at least 2 will sell before the year end and we expect them to be the first of many.

“Nothing will benefit human health and increase chances for survival of Life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet” Albert Einstein

Download the first of our series of 10 Podcasts celebrating our 10th anniversary, where the Bruce Gillingham Pollard team share insights and interviews with our friends across the worlds of fashion, restaurant, health and leisure.

In this podcast Tracey Pollard MRICS meets Sam Anstey MD of Mildreds Restaurant where they discuss the growth of vegetarian and vegan food; the Mildred brand, and its developments over Covid and how you evolve a 33-year restaurant to suit a growing and changing audience.

Boom: Battle Bar, the adventure bar concept from the team behind adventure park franchise Flip Out, has secured a site at the Ram Quarter development in Wandsworth, south London. The company has agreed a deal with developer Greenland UK to join the scheme, which is seeing the former home of London pub retailer Young’s being transformed into a leisure and experience-led retail destination. Boom: Battle Bar has taken a 10,000 square foot spot on the development’s riverside promenade, Barley Walk, overlooking the River Wandle. The company has taken a 15-year lease and is set to open the site later this year. The business will join London independent brewer Sambrook’s as well as Strike bowling, Mai Thai Deli and Schooner bar along with Backyard Cinema, fine dining restaurant London Stock, Story Coffee and MoreYoga. Boom: Battle Bar chief executive Elliott Shuttleworth said: “There’s a real buzz about the reopening of London’s nightlife, and we can’t wait to get people back together and give them a night out to remember at Ram Quarter.” Boom: Battle Bar offers games such as axe throwing, augmented darts, beer pong and shuffleboard alongside a central bar and street food-style offerings. Its move to Ram Quarter is part of its expansion drive, building on its current sites in Cardiff and Norwich and the company also has sites lined up in Liverpool, Lakeside, The O2, Oxford, Aldgate East, Eastbourne, Swindon, Aberdeen, Glasgow and Edinburgh. Sophie Moorcroft acted on behalf of Greenland and said, “ we are delighted to add Boom: Battle Bar to our line up because it adds to the dynamic mix which BGP and Greenland have worked hard over the last fews years to create. We believe Boom: Battle Bar will attract a new audience to the development whilst providing another reason to visit Ram Quarter.

For further information, please contact Sophie Moorcroft

Acting on behalf of Hammerson, Bruce Gillingham Pollard have secured three new lettings to Wingstop in Bullring, Birmingham, Cabot Circus, Bristol and Oracle in Reading.

Wingstop opened their first London site on Shaftesbury Avenue in the West End in 2018. With 1,500 branches in the US, they are now set to open 5 new sites, and are venturing beyond the capital. There has been a flurry of interest in sites outside of London since COVID19, as operators want to broaden their consumer demographics and have a newly found appreciation for locations outside of the West End.

In Bullring, Birmingham they have taken the former EAT, sitting beside Hai Di Lao and Discovery Adventure Golf. This cluster of new brands has repositioned the external F&B offer in Bullring, replacing the likes of EAT, Jamie’s Italian and Forever 21.

Sophie Moorcroft who acted for the Landlord  said “by replacing failed retail and restaurant brands, with new innovative and best in class operators, we’ve secured a mix which really appeals to generation Z. This is vital, if we want to get the younger consumer back into shopping centre post lockdown.”

In Cabot Circus, Bristol, Wingstop have taken the ground floor of the old  Dorothy Perkins, close to Zara and Urban Outfitters,  highlighting how retail and restaurant tenants can support each other in driving footfall and creating a demographic which is relevant to a specific consumer.