Investing In New Hospitality Businesses
Following months of refurbishment interspersed with two floods and a virus pandemic, Historic Ironbridge seems to be bucking the national trend and actually expanding, by investing and opening new hospitality venues, by celebrating the launch and re-launch of two of the areas favourite pubs.
Last week saw the popular eatery The White Hart Inn, located on the Wharfage over-looking the River Severn gorge, re-open following earlier floods and a subsequent make-over, followed by the all new Water Rat Inn, (formerly the Meadow Inn) – which has finally opened their doors following a huge £200,000 make over, including not just a brand-new bar and restaurant interior but kitchens, car park, gardens, internal electrics, plumbing systems and complete re-brand by the GB Hospitality Company
Joint restaurateur and pub consultant Alex Nicoll, commented; “After a long four and half months of floods and virus pandemics, we are delighted Ironbridge is officially and fully open for business and I’m very pleased to report that the new pub in the Village the Water Rat Inn, following a £200,000 investment will play an important part, located at the entrance to historic Ironbridge; with its new interior and expanded gardens down to the river the business reflects the long term confidence in the village and its future as an important and popular visitor destination. Our second pub in the heart of the village, The White Hart is also able to play its part in that re-launch of the area and we can proudly say that Ironbridge is re-open for business.”
The two pubs have created ten new jobs in the area, retaining eight of the original staff from the Meadow Inn, with more returning to both pubs from the Government Furlough scheme.
Following extensive product testing and training of the team over recent days, not just in service standards and product knowledge, but also in managing safe distancing and uber cleaning work practices, aimed at exceeding Government safety guidelines post-COVID, the doors are now open.
New Hospitality Technology Solutions
Both venues have benefited from industry developments in commission free booking portals and COVID Track and Trace systems.
Commission Free Table Bookings Solution
Teaming up with hospitality industry solution providers GB Hospitality Company, their partner SVTables reservations system has helped Alex provide full, secure on-line booking solutions for both venues, whilst reducing operating costs. Alex explains “For some time we have provided on-line bookings on our website via a national portal, however it is now more important than ever to reduce operating costs, so the no-booking-fee SVTables solution means we can deliver a simple pre-booking solution to our diners, as well as benefiting from the functionality back-office support, but at no extra costs. It’s already saved us £100’s prior to lockdown at The White Hart, and now with both sites we anticipate saving £1000’s over the year, which we can use to invest back in the business during these challenging times’
Track and Trace. Both venues have also benefitted from the state-of-the art ‘Track and Trace’ systems created by the GB Hospitality Company on their websites for anyone wishing to just call in for a drink, each located on both websites, with scannable ‘SR Codes’ provided to drinkers on arrival.
Marketing Solutions provider GB Hospitality Company, acting as marketing and brand consultants for both venues on imagery, branding as well as digital solutions installed the systems on their new websites, founder of GB Hospitality Company James Day added “When creating the website for the Water Rat Inn earlier this year, prior to lock down, no-one ever envisaged a Track and Trace system, or even COVID for that matter. So once the revised opening was announced we managed to develop this solution to ensure full COVID compliance and customer re-assurance. We are delighted to say that bookings are already up on expectations and the feedback on both venues via their social media channels and database response to the rebrands has been very positive. We wish both teams all the very best and will continue to support the development of the venues. The website and branding we launched last year for the sister pub ‘White Hart Inn, Ironbridge‘ has also received a make-over and the Track and Trace solution, to bring it up to date with the new challenges the restaurants face.”
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If you need marketing support for your business, the team at Greatestbritish.org are willing to support your hospitality business. Whether it be long term strategy, crisis communications and planning or management of your day to social media, website and print portfolio, they offer sustainable, affordable solutions, many commission free.