FOCUS FEATURE
HOSPITALITY AND TOURISM
able to reopen to outdoor customers from 12 April this year. Emma says: “Since we had the roadmap out of
lockdown, there’s been a surge of positivity as we can see the light at the end of the tunnel. When we reopened last time, there was the pressure of going back into another lockdown, but this time we’re cautiously optimistic and we’re seeing customers who haven’t been to the pub for over a year returning after having their first or second jabs.” This spring will mark a double celebration for Everards as
its new state-of-the-art brewery, beer hall and shop is primed for opening. The Everards Meadows site, next to Fosse Park in Leicester, will become a destination for customers to meet, eat and drink while taking in all the action of the brewery and its spectacular views. It will look to attract regulars and a new type of customer. Emma adds: “Consumer behaviours have changed and
the bar for their expectations has probably also risen. There’s a lot of opportunities for our industry if we adopt the right mindset to embrace them.”
WHEN 200 DEGREES opened its doors in a 17th Century coaching inn just off Nottingham’s Old Market Square in 2014, to many passers-by it was probably just another coffee shop – named after the Fahrenheit temperature its beans are roasted at – at a time when cities were full of them. It didn’t take long for this one to stand out from the
crowd, backed by a burgeoning reputation for some of the best brews in the business and an ambitious vision, with a second later arriving in Nottingham and followed by outlets in cities including Leeds, Birmingham, Leicester, Cardiff, Lincoln and Liverpool over the next five years. Its 11th shop opened at the McArthurGlen East Midlands Designer Outlet shopping centre in November 2019 but then the brakes were pressed. “As with all businesses,
we’ve had to re-evaluate the new way of the world,” says commercial director Will Kenney (pictured). For a business with premises in the
busiest city centres, the impact of the pandemic has clearly been huge. A significant chunk of its 100-strong workforce has been furloughed as its coffee shops were forced to close – or at best serve only takeaway food and drink – over the past year.
‘Sometimes coffee shops are doubling up as the ‘third place’ where people meet and spend time, after the home and workplace’
Its wholesale business, which has commercial contracts
to supply offices from a roastery next to Notts County’s Meadow Lane stadium, fell to 20% of pre-Covid levels. The consensus among office-based businesses points
towards a hybrid future of remote and on-premise-based work, but Will is confident city centres will emerge strongly from the pandemic. “I’m confident people will want to come back to city
centres. Sometimes coffee shops are doubling up as the ‘third place’ where people meet and spend time, after the home and workplace. But no matter what you’re doing, businesses in the city centre will have to work harder to make sure our customers have a great experience when they walk through our doors.” Perhaps surprisingly, given the times we’re in, 200
Degrees has announced it will finally open its 12th shop – an 80-seat venue in Manchester’s Mosley Street – in May, with plans for number 13 in the near future. Will says it’s been a “target city” for a while and is particularly excited given the long lead time to its latest venue. “We’ve now got a roadmap out of lockdown and, if we can stick to that, we think there’s a huge appetite among
54 business network May 2021
200 Degrees will soon have 12 coffee shops
consumers who want to get back out on the high street, and see friends and family again,” he adds.
IN THE DAYS after pubs were allowed to reopen, Sam Hagger recalls speaking to a widower whose wife had succumbed to coronavirus. “He said he was excited about his son coming to visit him that weekend so he could share the experiences he’d had with his wife in that pub,” says Sam. “It just showed to me that we can build as many garden sheds serving beer as we like, but there’s no replacement for a pub and the sense of community it brings. “Good hospitality isn’t just built on great food and drink – it’s built on great people too.”
ATTRACTING NEW BUSINESS
The tourism industry remains vitally important to the Peak District – but the national park has a great opportunity to attract new types of businesses after the pandemic. That’s the view of Robin Eyre (pictured), chairman of
the Business Peak District representative body, who believes an appetite for people to live near nature and increased remote working could lead to interest from small businesses looking to relocate to the area. “Part of our economic recovery is going to involve
attracting businesses – particularly in creative sectors like web designers and architects, which can be based anywhere – to the Peak District,” says Robin, who runs his own business Trailblazer360 Marketing from an office space at Cromford Creative, near Matlock. “We have some great office space,
including Cromford Creative, Hathersage Business Centre, Glossop Gas Works and Via Gelia Mills. “But to take advantage, we need
Cromford Creative
better public transport and housing supply for those people.” Each year, the Peak District and Derbyshire’s tourism industry generates £2.5bn for
the local economy, supporting 31,000 jobs and attracting 45 million visitors, according to the STEAM tourism economic impact model. This spans a range of sectors, including accommodation, hospitality, attractions, leisure and retail. “Those businesses have all closed so the effect has been very significant as the
towns and villages would usually thrive on the visitor economy,” adds Robin, who like many people in the Peaks owns a holiday home he’s been unable to rent out for much of the past 14 months. “This year, staycations could offer a big opportunity to increase profits from the higher
demand but if social distancing continues to limit capacity in venues, it could take a couple of seasons until we get back to the profitability they had a few years ago.”
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76
