Loungers to accelerate reopening programme

Café, restaurant and bar operator Loungers said on Thursday that it will accelerate its reopening programme following the successful reopening of 75 Lounges and 18 Cosy Clubs.

The company, which has a total of 165 sites, said it was "encouraged" by the reception from both its teams and customers since reopening some venues after the relaxation of coronavirus lockdown measures.

"The steps we have taken to ensure everyone's safety have been well-received and have not prevented us delivering our usual exceptionally high standards of hospitality and atmosphere. As a result of the confidence we have gained from the trading at our re-opened sites to date, we have decided to accelerate our re-opening programme and will have the full estate re-opened by 5 August."

Loungers will not re-open Banco Lounge in Bristol or the Allegro Lounge in Birmingham.

"Banco Lounge in Bristol is one of our earliest sites and a combination of its small size and the additional costs of doing business mean that it no longer meets our returns criteria," it said. It added that the Allegro Lounge hasn't performed as it had hoped since opening in 2018.

Chief executive Nick Collins said: "It remains our view that Loungers is well placed coming out of lockdown and we are optimistic with regards to future trading and the continued planned growth of both our Lounge and Cosy Club brands.

"Whilst in the short term our roll out programme will be considerably more conservative, we are excited to be opening our 30th Cosy Club in Brindley Place, Birmingham on 10 August. We welcome the further sector support announced by the Government last week which is timely and will assist us in re-building momentum over the weeks and months ahead."