All Bar One set for spring clean

Hotel and pub group Six Continents will unveil a revamped look for All Bar One this spring.

The cosmopolitan wine bar brand, one of the first to target women, will be stripped down to the bones and built back up again, says retail boss Tony Hughes.

"We have started work on all aspects of the offer," he said. "We have asked ourselves what we would do if we were starting All Bar One today and how we would go about it."

Six Continents will examine all areas of the 54-strong business from the menus and drinks to furnishings, look and feel.

"We are working with designers at the moment," he said. "But we are not going to turn any of them into building sites, it's a case of evolution rather than revolution.

"It's a great concept with longevity and nothing is broken but the market is moving all the time and the trick is to move with it. It is what I call good brand management."

All Bar One was originally conceived to include the growing number of upwardly mobile female drinkers, with a particular emphasis on cities with large business communities.

"It was something different from the typical old brown smoky boozer," said Mr Hughes.

"It is a community pub for the city where people can meet and eat - it's about sociability."

In recent years the company has opened larger-scale sites and will close some of the smaller units.

"We know it needs big windows and maximum frontage - when you find a good site the key is to be brave and go as big as you can," said Mr Hughes.