The City is the place to be
When working in the City of London some years back, my lunchtimes typically involved a short stroll down Fenchurch Street to the East India Arms for a few pints of Young’s Ordinary Bitter. I was certainly not the only person with this near-daily routine, because the small one-bar pub would be packed from before noon until well into the afternoon each working day.
It was a similar story across the whole of the Square Mile, and this gave its watering holes a unique buzz in what was then a largely male-dominated environment, with maybe a bit too much of a hard-drinking culture. Things have certainly been toned down over the years as the City has embraced a bit more of a balanced employee mix, and the drinking is now tempered by plenty of much more female-friendly and food-focused venues, including some smart restaurants.
With my affinity to the City, it made it particularly painful to see it ravaged by the pandemic. It immediately became one of the most exposed places to covid-19 as the work-from-home restrictions completely emptied its narrow streets of people. Those hospitality businesses with a presence in the City felt it extremely badly. The likes of Pret A Manger, Young’s, Fuller’s and Shepherd Neame were among those companies that kept some of their City outlets closed, even when the rest of the country was trading between lockdowns.
Thankfully, things are now on the uptrend. Bloomberg’s most recent Pret Index reported trade in the financial districts had hit a healthy 79% of pre-covid-19 levels, and Pret A Manger chief executive Pano Christou has been expressing new found confidence in the area, along with London in general. Even more gung-ho for the City is Jon Dalton, founder of Bloomsbury Leisure Group, who runs 14 hospitality businesses, including pubs in London, Bristol and Manchester.
His Pelt Trader bar near Cannon Street station has been operating at near pre-pandemic levels since mid-February, and it is the same story at his Farringdon Tap venue that sits opposite the expansive offices of Goldman Sachs that will house 6,000 employees – of which most are now back in the office full-time. Many are also back to frequenting his bar again – apart from the Russia desk, who were regulars, but Dalton says they have been noticeably absent recently.
Although Friday is not back to its old self as the big night of the week – it has been replaced by Thursday – he regards this as a short-term phenomenon and suggests the five-day working week in the City office will be back soon. Adding to the positivity about the City is the continued desire by older workers to work from home, which represents a great opportunity for younger members of the workforce, back in the office full-time, to potentially leapfrog their older brethren to promotions. Their presence – and greater willingness to socialise after work – is clearly a boon for all pub and bar operators in the Square Mile.
Against this backdrop, Dalton is expanding his presence in the City, with new units planned for London Bridge (that will open as the London Tap), a unit in a new-build in Aldgate and a third bar, The Bolter, near the Bloomberg Building. The fact that all his units compete with much bigger players does not worry him as he believes independent operators like Bloomsbury Leisure have a great opportunity in the City against the chains like JD Wetherspoon, Fuller’s and Young’s by offering a combination of value, a superior range and their employees’ great product knowledge.
For any operators considering the City of London, there is another upside to the area, which is coming into its own during these times of difficulty recruiting. With the trading week typically running Monday through Friday in most of the area, it is possible to have a single manager who can be on-site pretty much at all times – almost playing the role of the old landlord. These limited hours also ensure there is no burn-out from any members of the team.
The City might not be returning to quite the drink-fuelled bonanza times of my years working there, but this old centre of commerce is far from being washed up and looks to potentially offer plenty of opportunity for those operators up for the challenge.
Glynn Davis, editor of Beer Insider
This piece was originally published on Propel Info where Glynn Davis writes a regular Friday opinion piece. Beer Insider would like to thank Propel for allowing the reproduction of this column.