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.

The store occupies a prime position at 72-76 Queen Street in the heart of the city centre and is uniquely let to M&S PLC for a further 135.5 years. M&S has occupied the building for over 80 years.

This acquisition reflects a net initial yield of 6.42% and a capital value of £194 per sq. ft.

Jack Barratt of Bruce Gillingham Pollard comments “Queen Street Cardiff is still one of the busiest regional high streets in the UK, and with a unique 135 year lease to Marks and Spencer Scottish Limited Partnership we have acquired for a yield I would never have imagined seeing in any use class, especially on this street. Retail remains an investible property class, albeit one that now requires far greater analysis than in the past, given all retailers are getting tarnished with the same brush. M&S remain a top 3 non-food retailer, behind Amazon and JLP, and these types of assets are great counter-cyclical plays, especially when you have 100+ years left on the lease as we do here”.

Bruce Gillingham Pollard advised Topland, while the vendor, M&G, was represented by Knight Frank.

10 years ago today I co-founded Bruce Gillingham Pollard and today we are a business of 26 amazing people, offering a full global service for Landlords and occupiers and have firmly established ourselves as the premier independent retail and leisure agency.

We have genuinely changed places and created whole new destinations.  We have made great friends across the industry with long standing trusted relationships.

As I write our entire consumer base has been forced to close and we’ve all been subject to extreme restrictions. So what’s next…

Tomorrow doors finally start to reopen.  During the past year BGP has worked tirelessly to manage the chaos that has inevitably surrounded our industry and I’m hugely proud of the achievements we have made as a team.

Most importantly we have all learnt, trained and prepared for the future after COVID.  BGP is what I like to call battle ready!

As the gates open tomorrow morning, the sun will shine again, the crowds will roar and BGP will walk out ready for the fight.  We’ve never been more excited for the opportunity to impact how our high street and retail centres evolve – that satisfaction of creating places (and most importantly the team celebrations!).

It’s going to be an absolutely belting next 10 years, we are just getting started.

We thank all our clients and friends within the industry for their support and I extend personal thanks to Tracey and Rupert the team, past and present, without whom BGP wouldn’t be strength of business that it is.

COVID secure celebration party to follow shortly!

St Peters, Burton on Trent – purchased for £5.50 million reflecting a net initial yield of 8.65%, let to Dunelm, Pets at Home and Halfords (WAULT 5 years);

Four Pools, Evesham – purchased for £11.40 million reflecting a net initial yield of 8.40%, let to The Range, Halfords, Pets at Home and Pure Gym. Also 2 lettings to complete to Subway and Greggs.

The acquisition reflects an increasingly active out of town market for smaller schemes (sub £15m), let to “COVID-successful” tenants, with strong occupier credit and relatively low/re-based rents.

For further information, please contact Andrew McGregor

Whilst there is an underlining negativity around retail property, this market sentiment has led to the creation of opportunities for our clients. With a strong retail background, they are acutely aware of the growth in retail sales in many market towns and as such are keen to expand more within this area.

Jack Barratt of Bruce Gillingham Pollard says “this sector merits more attention, as many high streets located in affluent commuter environments have remained busy throughout the lockdown periods. Our leasing teams are seeing a shift in operator demand for locations such as Guildford and as such it presents a strong story for our investor base given the fundamentals”.

Speak to Jack Barratt in our investment team for details on our overseas client requirements .