I read in the
Manchester Evening News that a London based company is aiming to breathe new life into struggling Manchester pubs by creating 'no frills' accommodation for backpackers and travellers.
Journeys converts sections of pubs into hostels by installing bunk beds for visitors who can then boost landlords’ food and drink takings through their added custom.
Apparently the company has four such sites in London and one in Brighton. On the face of it, a rather good plan and with the no frills aspect, fairly straightforward to operate. Profitable too potentially, as Journeys say one of their first sites, which has been running for two years, was created in a dilapidated pub and in its second year of trading turned over £630,000, yielding a profit of £221,000.
That's clearly the sunny side, but it seems worth exploring for some.
The MEN has the full story here.
4 comments:
That might be the one local to me. They call it 'London Bridge' using the 'RyanAir' Map Of London - it's actually on the Walworth/Kennington border, on this side of the Elephant & Castle! It's very backsteet but crucially, 10 mins from Kennington tube and it seems popular judging by the number of people who obviously aren't local I see trekking to and from the station.
It does seem like a good idea, and it's going back to one of the original purposes of inns: convenient accommodation for travellers, a role that has been imperfectly taken on by the likes of Travelodge.
Lots of big old pubs have empty rooms upstairs in which people used to stay and which could easily be brought back into use.
That is a good idea!
I often thought that it would be a good idea for pubs with decent sized car parks to allow camper vans to park up for the night, not just allow but actively encourage it. Maybe even go so far as to invest in some electrical hook ups.
I know of at least one pub in Ireland that encourages the free use of its car park for campers. Clearly the pub gets the business from food and drink and is a good idea.
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