Focus on Scotland

G1 leads the way in Glagow city centre as explosion continues

The massive explosion in Glasgow's night life over the last five years does not worry the city's most dynamic home-based multiple operator. After all, G1 Group has more than doubled its pubs and bars itself in recent months.

Research by industry information specialist CGA shows that the number of outlets in the greater Glasgow area has now hit 900, 150 more than in 1996.

The city has five entries in CGA's top 10 most-pubbed streets in Britain, with Hope Street leading the way with 19 units - up from only 11 in 1996.

G1, set up a decade ago by entrepreneur Stefan King and best known for its flagship multiple venue the Corinthian, nipped in ahead of stiff competition to buy 13 Big Beat pubs from receivers last November, taking its estate swiftly to 22.

The company is now upgrading the sites, which include the Cul De Sac and Oblomov brands, in a refurbishment programme that will take another year to complete. It also promises "some rather exciting launches" for the city over the next 18 months.

"We know the local marketplace and the customers better than any other company," boasted G1's marketing manager Angus Lawrie. "It means we can react to trends, styles and fashions far quicker than a larger organisation.

"Innovation is the key in this business. Our policy is to brand all our venues differently and cater for separate market segments. Each new venue we create will follow this policy allowing us to create places that are tailor-made to the marketplace.

"We will not fall into the trap of rolling out a concept that is successful in one city and forcing it to fit another location with different cultural and lifestyle profiles.

"Having more licensed premises in Glasgow will mean that the best will succeed and premises that do not offer the right products, services, atmosphere and surroundings will not," he concluded. "This can only be good for the consumer in the long term."

G1 has made the creation of new concepts something of a speciality, targeting a diverse range of what it identified as untapped niche markets, including 30-plus professionals, 20-plus clubbers, gay people and cosmopolitan West Enders, among others.

Turning disused buildings into profitable businesses it has won numerous regeneration and industry awards along the way.It created the first bar/club in Glasgow with Babaza five years ago and launched the city's gay village with the refurbishment of a former insurance building to create the Polo Lounge, Delmonicas and Moda.

Corinthian in 1999 marked the first "one-stop lifestyle venue" for the 30-plus professional and the launch of bar, restaurant and club Arta helped kick-start the fresh reinvestment in the Merchant City.

Nor does G1 see itself confined to Glasgow. It has a presence in Aberdeen and Dundee and continues to look for opportunities elsewhere.

The Big Beat acquisition has seen the company expand its head office operation but Angus points out that the leap in size may not be as great as it appears.

"Although it would seem to be a large increase in the number of venues, many of the original G1 venues are massive and some of them - such as Arta and Corinthian - house restaurants, numerous large bars, nightclubs, live music venues and even private members' bars and are actually more like three or four units in one."

Belhaven rises to English challenge​

The Belhaven Group continues to match the growth of English-based pubcos in Scotland with its own ambitious expansion programme.

As well as rolling out its Pivo and Yard brands into cities around the country it is currently adding to its tenanted estate at the rate of one a week.

Jeff Myers, managing director of Belhaven's Stirling-based pubs division, is unimpressed by the challenge from south of the border.

"There was competition here before the English came," he said. "It is all part of the fun. We are really committed to growth. I have a personal target of 200 pubs by 2003 and at the rate we are going we shall achieve it."

The company has just secured two sites - a bank and a restaurant - in Inverness for the Czech-themed Pivo and Yard music venue, taking its estate further north than it has ever been before. Each will be developed at a cost of around £1m.

Yards have also recently opened in Greenock and Dundee with another lined up for Glenrothes.

"Our emphasis is on brown field developments," said Jeff. "We will have another six open before the end of the year."

A lot of the new tenancies have been converted from Belhaven's existing 2,000 freetrade accounts, one advantage that the brewer has in the property market over the pubcos.

"We keep our ear to the ground and when we hear someone may want to sell we get a private introduction," explained Jeff. "Then we can move very quickly, we can complete a deal in 24 hours."

King of the Castle​

With the opening of a £3.5m venue in Perth last week, Castle Leisure Group has finally got its ambitious expansion plans underway.

The £13m roll-out of a chain of massive venues, including what will be Scotland's largest licensed premises in Glasgow, fell a year behind schedule after Castle ran up against local objections to the Perth project and had to win the battle at a public inquiry before going ahead.

Now an accelerated programme will see the second complex open in Edinburgh around Christmas to be followed by two more in 2003 - in Falkirk and Glasgow. Each development will be anchored by Castle's Sportsters sports bar brand, already successful in Stirling and Paisley, which features genuine sporting memorabilia.

Although the 28,000sq ft Perth venue had got the nod from planning officials the scheme hit problems when a local councillor led residents in a protest that claimed it would have an adverse impact on the area, as Paul Smith, joint managing director with his brother Stephen, explained.

"They forced us to go to a public inquiry, but we were able to win the day by arguing that the project was in line with the council's policy for the area, that we were good operators and that the venue would be sound-proofed and in its own grounds," he said.

"Now that is behind us we don't anticipate any operational problems and there is nothing in the way of developing the other three sites."

As well as a Sportsters, Perth has a fine dining restaurant, a 1,200-capacity nightclub, a member's lounge, a children's play area and conference facilities.

Edinburgh will take up 20,000sq ft of the basement at the Scotsman newspaper building and Falkirk is set for the former ABC cinema. It will continue to screen films and also include a young person's venue.

A site in another ABC cinema on Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow, at 40,000sq ft, will be Scotland's largest licensed premises and will incorporate two night clubs.

Stirling-based Castle, which was started by the Smith brothers in 1981, counts as one of Scotland's longest established multiples. It currently operates six other outlets including the Sportsters bars, the Canteen and Rosie's in Falkirk and nightclubs in Stirling and Dumbarton.

Paul admits that the main difficulty now facing Castle in the months ahead is staffing. Its number of employees will leap from 350 to 1,300 over the next year or so.

A week before it opened the Perth venue was still 30 short of its ideal staffing level of 150 despite a recruitment campaign with open days backed by the local chamber of commerce.

"Finding staff is our biggest challenge over the next year," said Paul. "But we are an Investor in People, a people-centred business and we offer career prospects and high quality training - that will be the key."

Tourism fund bid​

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