We are Delighted to see JKS Restaurants reopen The George Fitzrovia last Thursday. This exciting venture is in partnership with renowned publican Dominic Jacobs and celebrated chef James Knappett. Along with JKS they form a remarkable team who have restored this beautiful 3 storey, 18th century, grade II-listed building, and will now operate it in a way which celebrates its former self, and also creates an exciting destination for today. It will fully embrace the British pub experience downstairs, with Upstairs at the George becoming a full dining experience led by James Knappett.

Bruce Gillingham Pollard were very pleased to work with The Crown Estate to secure JKS and the team to bring this historic pub back to life, with the support of Distrkt.

Isn’t this the most amazing building? It’s the Hydraulic Power Station in Wapping and we are looking for its next tenant. The building has planning permission granted for the introduction of new floors within the listed building, together with the creation of a glazed extension within the roof level water tanks, the conversion of the below-ground reservoir and the erection of a new three storey office block within the courtyard, which together will deliver 2,502 sqm of office space and 1,223 sqm of flexible restaurant/office space.

There are so many possibilities for the next chapter of its life, if you would like to learn, more please contact Tracey Pollard .

Mission Mars, the north west bar and restaurant operator led by Roy Ellis, is set to open a second Albert’s Schloss site, Paradise, Birmingham.

The Bavarian beer hall concept joins the impressive line up of Vinoteca, Dishoom and Rosa’s Thai – which have all committed to opening at the £700m Paradise Birmingham complex.

Albert’s Schloss will open at a 10,000 square foot location on One Chamberlain Square in the autumn. The design will be influenced by travels across Bavaria, Bohemia and Alpine European retreats, so expect roaring fires, raucous musical performances, tankards of Europe’s finest beers and robust Bavarian food.

Paradise Birmingham plans to deliver up to ten new flagship buildings, offering offices, shops, bars, cafes, restaurants and a hotel across 17 acres in the heart of the city, together with a proposed 49-storey Octagon residential building. BGP’s Victoria Broadhead is sole letting agent and responsible for the impressive restaurant line up within the new development. For more information please contact Victoria Broadhead.

Super excited to have worked with Henrietta Rix and acted on behalf of my client Grosvenor Group in securing RIXO’s first bridalwear store at 75 Elizabeth Street which opened earlier this week! This will be the only RIXO bridalwear boutique, stocking their limited edition capsule collection of 26 pieces.

The bridal collection is split into two themes, ‘the city bride’ and ‘the classic bride’. The collection caters to brides at both ends of the spectrum from slinky silk dresses, sequin dresses to jumpsuits and mini dresses for those looking for something less formal.

They will also stock a collection of bridesmaid and wedding guest dresses in addition to accessories including blouses, veils and headbands to finish off the look.

With restrictions now starting to lift, and a flurry of weddings on the horizon it is the perfect time for them to open their bricks and mortar store.

They will join existing brands on the street including the likes of Me & Em, Beulah, Pepa & Co, Jo Loves and recently launched Bayley & Sage. Rixo will provide a unique offering on the street further bolstering the independent, community offering in Belgravia and we know they will be a huge success!

Bruce Gillingham Pollard have always been at the forefront of nurturing their young team and when MD Tracey Pollard was asked to participate in the Mentoring Circle, she said yes immediately. We talk to founder Vanessa Murray prior to the official launch on International Women’s day, about why she felt that despite an increase in women in all sectors of the property market a mentoring programme was still required.

What made you start up Mentoring Circle?

Over the last few years I have worked with some really brilliant young women who don’t recognise their own strengths and are poor at promoting their own interests. This is a recurring theme that I really wanted to tackle given the lack of women in senior leadership positions in the industry. There are mentoring schemes already in existence but they tend to be for school children or focussed on mid level professionals who already have a network to lean on. I decided to set up my own scheme Mentoring Circle which partners senior female professionals with young women in the industry who have a maximum of 18 months PQE. The scheme is free, cross sector and designed as a career ‘kick start’.

There are a wide range of mentors from different sectors of the property industry, what are you hoping they will be able to offer potential candidates?

It’s really important that we collaborate as an industry particularly considering the similar challenges we are all facing. Young mentees will typically be working in specific areas of property. Exposing them to expertise outside of their direct sphere will broaden and contextualise their understanding of the industry. Most importantly, access to senior level professionals at these key developmental stages has the ability to make a really positive impact to the future careers of our mentees. As women working in an industry where this is still a disparity at top level, there is a great opportunity here to close that gap.

Why should someone apply, what do you think they will get out of mentoring?

It would be easier for me to ask that question in reverse! Who wouldn’t want to be partnered with an inspirational woman for a free quarterly mentoring session over the course of 12 months? Not only do mentees benefit from valuable mentoring with a top level professional, but they benefit from our guest speaking events which tackle broader issues like public speaking, leadership, imposter syndrome and many more. We are also holding networking events over the course of the year which mentees are required to attend to help them build their own professional network.

LinkedIn: Mentoring Circle

Instagram: @mentoringcircle

55 Regent Street is a unique opportunity to occupy up to 17,000 sq ft over ground and first floor within a truly flagship building at the gateway to Regent Street, one of the most iconic lifestyle locations in the world, and in addition fronting Piccadilly Circus, a globally recognised marketing and branding position.

Our focus is to help The Crown Estate continue to work with customers and brands to bring innovative, relevant and pioneering concepts to the Regent Street neighbourhood and further secure it’s position as the world’s leading retail and leisure destination.

55 Regent Street represents an incredible opportunity for retailing, for concept development, for branding, for events and also for food and beverage across ground and first floors within a showpiece building.

Rupert Bentley-Smith, Jamie Orme and Dominic Tixerant are leading this project on behalf of BGP.

It was interesting to see Reiss announced they were starting to sell War Paint For Men. The make-up brand which challenges masculine stereotypes will offer its tinted moisturiser, primer, bronzer, concealer and beard and brow gel online and will have in store presence in 15 of Reiss’s UK stores and 3 in New York.

Each year BGP predicate retail and property trends for the following year and back in 2019 we discussed male grooming and the increasing rise of male beauty products and how this might impact retail stores, much to the scepticism of some of our team and clients!

Whilst we don’t always get it spot on, we have always believed in the importance of understanding trends which are shaping society’s future and how they impact the property market.

It’s fair to say with this year’s massive shifts and the accelerations in trends this has never been more important. The team are busy working on our predications for 2021 and if you would like us to present in January  either on line or in person, please contact Layla O’Driscoll.