A fast-growing café-bar and dining business is taking steps to open at the Forge Island leisure development in Rotherham town centre.
Forge Island is the town centre's new landmark leisure destination delivered by Rotherham Council in partnership with Muse. The £47m development includes an 8-screen boutique cinema operated by The Arc Cinema and a 69-roomed Travelodge Hotel but new food outlets are yet to open.
Rothbiz reported last month that a number of operators had signed up and agreed to terms, and the first looks to be Loungers plc.
Loungers has grown from one brand and one site in 2002 to three brands and 280 sites today. The business comprises three distinct but complementary brands: Lounge café-bar, Cosy Club bar and dining concept, and Brightside roadside dining.
Loungers UK Limited has now applied for a premises licence for a unit at Forge Island, indicating that it would operate under the Lounge brand.
On plans for Forge Island, 5,618 sq ft Unit 4 is shown as the largest of the remaining units, a purpose-built restaurant building overlooking the new landscaped area alongside the River Don. On other plans, Unit 4 is shown as a 2,500 sq ft unit within the cinema building.
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The application is for the sale of alcohol, for consumption on and off the premises, on every day of the week between 10am and midnight and for the provision of late-night refreshment on every day of the week between 11pm and 12.30am on the following day.
The Lounge brand is designed to create "a home from home, offering delicious food and drinks, all day, on your doorstep." It is described as a neighbourhood café-bar combining elements of a restaurant, British pub and coffee shop culture. The offer includes breakfasts, brunch, lunch, dinner and drinks with a wide range including full kid's, gluten-free and vegan menus.
Lounges are principally located in secondary suburban high streets and small town centres and the estate has a consistent look and feel but each Lounge is individually named and tailored to the site and local area. Lounge currently operates at The Glass Works in Barnsley and Fox Valley in Sheffield.
With each new site, nearly £1m is invested into the local area and an average of 30 new jobs are created.
AIM-listed Loungers plc is currently undergoing a buyout by an American investment group which places its value at £350.5m.
Loungers has consistently reported revenue growth, and sector-leading like-for-like sales growth in spite of challenging trading conditions for UK hospitality as a result of, amongst other things, COVID, inflation and the cost of living crisis.
Directors expect to continue to open around 36 new sites per annum.
Lounge website
Forge Island website
Images: Google Maps / Loungers
Forge Island is the town centre's new landmark leisure destination delivered by Rotherham Council in partnership with Muse. The £47m development includes an 8-screen boutique cinema operated by The Arc Cinema and a 69-roomed Travelodge Hotel but new food outlets are yet to open.
Rothbiz reported last month that a number of operators had signed up and agreed to terms, and the first looks to be Loungers plc.
Loungers has grown from one brand and one site in 2002 to three brands and 280 sites today. The business comprises three distinct but complementary brands: Lounge café-bar, Cosy Club bar and dining concept, and Brightside roadside dining.
Loungers UK Limited has now applied for a premises licence for a unit at Forge Island, indicating that it would operate under the Lounge brand.
On plans for Forge Island, 5,618 sq ft Unit 4 is shown as the largest of the remaining units, a purpose-built restaurant building overlooking the new landscaped area alongside the River Don. On other plans, Unit 4 is shown as a 2,500 sq ft unit within the cinema building.
Advertisement
The application is for the sale of alcohol, for consumption on and off the premises, on every day of the week between 10am and midnight and for the provision of late-night refreshment on every day of the week between 11pm and 12.30am on the following day.
The Lounge brand is designed to create "a home from home, offering delicious food and drinks, all day, on your doorstep." It is described as a neighbourhood café-bar combining elements of a restaurant, British pub and coffee shop culture. The offer includes breakfasts, brunch, lunch, dinner and drinks with a wide range including full kid's, gluten-free and vegan menus.
With each new site, nearly £1m is invested into the local area and an average of 30 new jobs are created.
AIM-listed Loungers plc is currently undergoing a buyout by an American investment group which places its value at £350.5m.
Loungers has consistently reported revenue growth, and sector-leading like-for-like sales growth in spite of challenging trading conditions for UK hospitality as a result of, amongst other things, COVID, inflation and the cost of living crisis.
Directors expect to continue to open around 36 new sites per annum.
Lounge website
Forge Island website
Images: Google Maps / Loungers
Good news,now let's get the other units occupied with similar.Just a shame there weren't all let for the upcoming Christmas/new year celebrations.
ReplyDeleteCosy Club is exactly what Forge Island needs. Fair play if they manage to attract them, it's better than a lot of us would've expected.
ReplyDeleteFantastic news and an utter dampener for the Forge Island White Elephant Brigade.
ReplyDeleteI hope this is a huge success and proves all the doom mongers posting here wrong
ReplyDeleteThis is excellent news. Loungers will be a welcome addition, and at £6 a pint it should deter the Rothbiz Wetherspoons fan club from frequenting
ReplyDeleteThats gunna be next door 😏
DeleteI don't really think there's a Wetherspoons fan club on here. It's personally not my thing but I can appreciate how it would be beneficial for one to be on Forge Island, especially seeing as not many other businesses seem to want to be.
DeleteI reckon they will manage to get it fully let,it's hardly a large complex, typically Rotherham really tiny for size of town.
DeleteYour Monica should be Mini me then
DeleteGreat stuff. Bring it on!!!
ReplyDeleteWeatherspoons aren’t opening on Forge Island
ReplyDeleteBecause Weatherspoons don't exist?
DeleteAnonymousDecember 19, 2024 at 4:00 PM
ReplyDeleteBecause Weatherspoons don't exist?
??
It's Wetherspoons
ReplyDeleteStop stirring it
DeleteWho also don't exist. It's Whitherspoons.
ReplyDeleteWhether it's wether, whither or weather, it won't be happening. Wetherspoons is a fair weather company and goes where the biggest potential profits are.
ReplyDeleteAs a good business should. It’s not a charity.
DeleteWetherby perhaps?
ReplyDeleteIt will be just like Rotherham clowncil to turn down licensing request from them , not enough mention of minority groups to catered for
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of clowns....
DeleteGiven the council have been actively seeking to attract tenants why would the council turn down their application? Clown indeed.
DeleteHopefully Hooters next, they serve up lovely food!
ReplyDeleteI bet of most of the posters on here have never even seen any hooters in real life.
DeleteHeard a rumour recently that Hooters were in difficulties and that Wetherspoons were considering a takeover bid.
ReplyDeleteSilly comment
DeleteOh, if only they could relocate the County to Forge Island. Not only would that produce the required increase in footfall but would also inject a bit of class to the project.
ReplyDeleteWhat is the fascination with everyone on here around bars?
ReplyDeleteBecause reading the comments of some posters drives us to drink.
ReplyDeleteVery true that Jez. An astute observation.
ReplyDeleteNeed a decent bar on the Island as it’s hit & miss if you can get a quiet pre match pint on a Saturday at the Travelodge !
ReplyDelete