Laine Pubs
An autonomous part of the Punch Pubs empire, Laine is a specialist operator of pubs and bars aimed at Generation Z. Its 50 sites, all operated as managed partnerships, are mainly in Brighton and London with recent openings taking the firm into Croydon and Norwich.
With an average ago of just 28, its partners share not only the youth but the culture and values of their customer base, delivering lively, mostly late-night, music-led venues that embrace and celebrate diversity.
Laine works closely with its partners to develop themselves as well as their business, offering flexible agreements that can improve profitability and allow creativity at point of service. The great success story of the past year has been the Pubbl loyalty app, which has 110,000 users and has boosted both return visits and spend across the estate. A new pre-booking system is also reaping rewards.
After spending £2m on improving its estate last year, further expansion outside its heartlands is on the way.
Wells & Co
This 150-year-old family brewer continues to evolve and bring fresh innovation to its diverse 130-strong tenanted and leased estate, spread across a large swathe of the Midlands and South East England.
Always looking to the long term, Wells has supported its partners through testing challenges of the past few years, freezing draught beer prices, offering deals, helping with energy management and improving communications with its partners in order to deal early with potential problems.
Use of technology and data is helping partners to better understand their businesses and their potential customers, while exchanging knowledge and best practice has become key to lifting standards and taking effective initiatives.
Brewing at its new base at Brewpoint in Bedford, it’s no surprise that beer is a big focus for the company, and it has recently appointed a beer ambassador to audit each pub, educate staff and offer customers tutored tastings. Wells’ own nitro stout, Genesis, has also begun to nudge bigger names off the bar.
