B' in Cambridge takes the number of Baroosh bars to three,

Two weeks ago, McMullen's opened its third Baroosh style bar, this time simply called B', in the cosmopolitan university city of Cambridge. At the site of the former arts cinema in Market Passage, the new opening represents a £1.8m investment. It is expected to take in the region of £40,000 per week and follows on from success at the Hertford branch ­ opened in May 2000 and taking £40,000 a week ­ and Uxbridge, opened in June this year and grossing in the region of £35,000 per week. Spread over three floors, the Cambridge bar incorporates all the distinguishing brand characteristics, according to operations area manager Kate Moorby. "Although the styling is contemporary, the materials are very traditional," she says. "Leather chairs, an oak and slate bar, wood and limestone floors mix easily with big, comfy sofas. We wanted the brand to be very female-friendly with big glass windows and an airy feeling, offering good quality coffee, wine and food." The recruitment of Peter Furness-Smith, formerly retail director at Morlands for nine years, as McMullen's managing director in 1998, was the catalyst to the creation of Baroosh. A year later, in October 1999, Moorby, who has a background in All Bar One branch management and training, was persuaded by Furness-Smith to join the company, with a brief to add the operational flesh to the style-bar idea. The first site in Hertford was a former Barclays Bank, a characterful building offering 3,200sq ft of space. "I joined in October 1999 and we opened the following May," says Moorby. "So I spent the time in between developing the idea; deciding what we would sell at the bar, the uniform and menu ­ everything. It was fantastic starting from scratch." The Hertford site was budgeted to take £17,000 a week, a figure it comfortably doubled. "Hertford was an ideal first site. It is close to train stations taking people to London to work," says Moorby. "So our customers tend to have money and there is no real competition in this part of the market nearby." Food accounts for 25% of the takings at Hertford, an impressive £8,000 to £10,000 a week, with the menu an eclectic mix of old British favourites such as sausages with a basil mash as well as Mediterranean-influenced dishes. "The menu is evolving all the time but there are seven or eight dishes we haven't changed since the beginning because they're such good sellers." Customer comment cards reveal that although the weekend trade is weighted towards the high-spending 18 to 35-year-olds, the age spread through the rest of the week is remarkably broad. "We advertised the sites for hire. Older people who did not come here because they thought it was a trendy bar, came to the sites to attend meetings and seminars and realised it was for their age group," says Moorby. One key to success has been the approach to staff recruitment and training. "I get involved in recruitment of staff for new openings," says Moorby. "We recruit lots of people we'd like to go for a drink with ourselves. We want staff who are fun and are not afraid to muck in. Managers, for example, get involved in cleaning ­ it's all about leading from the front." Staff incentive ideas include tickets to the theatre and offering them a drink at the end of the evening to foster team bonding. Inevitably, there have been minor adjustments to design at Baroosh, based on experience of the ground. Says Moorby: "At Hertford, we had spirits in Optics when we opened. But we moved them to spirit rails just behindthe bar so staff are facing thecustomers. It added a little bit oftheatre to the bar as well." McMullen used a former British Gas showroom, an unprepossessing, modern, flat-fronted brick building, for its Uxbridge site, now open for five months. "We had to make an impact on the high street so we built a sheer glass frontage with visible spiral staircases," says Moorby. The Cambridge opening has been a test of corporate patience, with two years spent navigating the planning process. The city council wanted the former arts cinema site to retain a link with its historic use. The result is a first-floor entertainment room which can be used as a venue for informal performances, events, arts seminars, meetings and special occasions. There's also an acoustic loop, overhead slide presentation system and a baby grand piano in the corner. Expansion of the brand is set to continue with an opening in Staines, Middlesex, scheduled for the summer of next year. "When I started, we talked about seven bars being a good target for growth," says Moorby. One brake on Baroosh development is McMullen's entirely sensible belief that it should own the freeholds of sites it develops. "Finding the freehold sites in towns where we want to open is hard," says Moorby. "But we strive for consistency and once you get to 12 or more, the danger is that you start to lose control.