Monday 19 October: Simmons Bars names Jason Thorndycraft as CEO to lead London expansion

Show Notes

Simmons Bars appoints Jason Thorndycraft as CEO, while the Chancellor prepares a Budget that could lift 75,000 small businesses out of the business rates net.

Collated, not reported. Ops Club did not break these stories, the trade press did. This is a signpost to them.

Scripted and read by AI from the Ops Club written edition. The stories are the trade press's, the selection is ours.

In this briefing

Results & trading updates: Byron losses hit £1.5m as burger brand struggles for momentum; Molson Coors warns pub profits at risk as drinkers shift to retail; AG Restaurants sees profits rise despite turnover dip; Crerar Hotel Group returns to profit but warns on labour costs; London & Regional Hotels slips to £3m loss

Acquisitions & investment: Leonardo Hotels buys The Bristol for £11.5m rebrand; Dubai family office rescues Lythe Hill Hotel from administration; Canalside Ventures paid £775,000 for Thai Express UK

New openings & closures: Raising Cane’s secures fourth London site in Dalston; Wagamama opens second roadside site at Cobham Services; Solina pasta brand introduced to Cardiff by Walcot Group; Blend Family sets November date for Elephant Exchange food hall; Urban Greens to open seventh London site this week; Bad Bird fried chicken debuts at Boxpark Wembley; Auntie Anne’s opens third container site in Ashford; Oxygen opens 19th activity centre in Crawley

Promotions & people moves: Simmons Bars hires Jason Thorndycraft as CEO; Individual Restaurants names Rob Carroll as technology director; Brother Marcus appoints Maureen Sandbach as interim people director

Trends & market data: Budget to lift 75,000 small firms out of business rates; Recruitment friction sees 84% of candidates quit applications; UK profit warnings hit two-year high on energy shocks; Nightclubs lost at twice the rate of wider hospitality

Other industry news: Whitbread CEO slams 'unanticipated' £200m rates bill; VAT petition with 400,000 signatures delivered to No 10; CMA urged to probe Live Nation's 'market dominance'

Sources

Propel - Propel Monday News Briefing

Propel - Update: Byron losses widen

The Caterer - Byron reports £1.5m loss

The Caterer - Leonardo Hotels snaps up the Bristol hotel

The Caterer - Lythe Hill Hotel & Spa sold to Dubai family office

Restaurant Online - Raising Cane’s lines up fourth UK site

Hospitality & Catering News - Areas UK Opens wagamama at Cobham Services

City AM - UK company profit warnings surge

The Morning Advertiser - Nightclubs ‘left behind’ on business rates

The full rundown, with a link to every original story, is at ops-club.com/news/2026-10-19.

For longer conversations with the people running the sector, find the Hospitality Ops Club podcast at ops-club.com/podcast.

Three things to think about

If the business rates threshold rises to £18,000, have you modelled exactly which of your smaller sites will drop out of the net and how that cash could be reallocated to wages?

With 84% of candidates abandoning applications due to friction, when was the last time you tried to apply for a job at your own company on a mobile phone at 11pm?

If you are running a restaurant brand, are you seeing the same volume shift to retail that Molson Coors is reporting, and does your mid-week pricing reflect that competition?

What is Hospitality News Briefing?

UK hospitality news, collated every weekday morning in about five minutes.

We summarise the trade press first thing so you don't have to. Each briefing
covers the results, the deals, the openings and the people moves that matter to
operators, with every story credited out loud to the publication that reported it.

We collate, we don't report. The full rundown, with links back to the original journalism, is at ops-club.com/news.

Scripted and read by AI from the Ops Club written edition. The stories are the trade press's, the selection is ours.

Three things to think about before you get on with your day, then you're done.

From Ops Club, the community for hospitality operators. For longer conversations with
the people running the sector, find the Hospitality Ops Club podcast (https://ops-club.com/podcast)

Find us at ops-club.com for more.

Good morning. This is the Hospitality News Briefing, from Ops Club. Episode twenty two, Monday the nineteenth of October. Here is what the UK trade press reported this morning, collated for operators.

Simmons Bars has appointed Jason Thorndycraft as its new C E O while the Chancellor prepares a Budget that could lift seventy five thousand small businesses out of the business rates net.

We start with the latest trading numbers. The Caterer reports that Byron has seen losses hit one point five million pounds. Tristar Foods reported this operating loss for the year to December twenty twenty five. That is more than double the deficit from the year before. Turnover fell twenty six per cent to ten point six million pounds. The six site group is struggling with rising wages and energy costs. It is a tough reminder that even smaller legacy brands are finding this cost environment very difficult.

Propel has a round of updates from across the industry. Molson Coors has warned that pub profits are at risk as drinkers move toward supermarkets. The brewer reported flat profits of forty million pounds on sales of one point five six billion pounds. Elsewhere, A G Restaurants saw profits rise to three point nine seven million pounds. That is the Scottish McDonald's franchisee, which grew profit despite a slight dip in revenue across its twenty six sites. Crerar Hotel Group has returned to a small profit of sixty one thousand pounds. However, the group warned that national insurance hikes are forcing them to raise salaries to stay competitive. Finally, London and Regional Hotels moved from a two million pound profit to a three million pound loss for twenty twenty five. That happened even though turnover stayed steady at six hundred and fifty million pounds.

On to who is buying what. Leonardo Hotels has bought The Bristol for eleven point five million pounds. As The Caterer reports, the site is set for a rebrand. A Dubai family office has rescued the Lythe Hill Hotel in Surrey from administration. The new owners plan to turn the country house hotel into a five star wellness resort. Also in Propel, Pranee Laurillard's new vehicle, Canalside Ventures, paid seven hundred and seventy five thousand pounds for Thai Express U K. They bought the seven site business through a pre pack deal and want to reach one hundred locations within two years.

Looking at new openings, Raising Cane's has secured its fourth London site in Dalston. Restaurant Online reports the U S fried chicken brand is hiring now for the Kingsland High Street spot. Hospitality and Catering News reports that Wagamama has opened its second roadside site at Cobham Services on the M twenty five. In Cardiff, the Walcot Group has introduced the Solina pasta brand. The two hundred and twenty seat venue served six hundred covers on its opening day. The Elephant Exchange food hall in Elephant and Castle will launch on the twelfth of November. Urban Greens is opening its seventh London site this week on Tottenham Court Road. Propel reports that Bad Bird fried chicken has debuted at Boxpark Wembley. Auntie Anne's has opened its third container site in Ashford. And Oxygen has opened its nineteenth activity centre in Crawley following a two million pound investment.

There are a few people moves to note this morning. As Propel reports, Simmons Bars has hired Jason Thorndycraft as C E O to lead its next growth phase. Thorndycraft comes from Guinness Open Gate Brewery and has previously led Drake and Morgan. The cocktail bar group is currently seeing fourteen per cent like for like sales growth. Individual Restaurants has named Rob Carroll as technology director. And Brother Marcus has appointed Maureen Sandbach as interim people director as the group expands its support office.

Next, some data on the wider market. Propel reports the Chancellor is expected to raise the business rates threshold in the upcoming Budget. Moving the threshold from twelve thousand pounds to eighteen thousand pounds could save two thousand six hundred pubs from paying the tax. This would be funded by a new levy on online retail giants. New research from K A M and Sona shows that eighty four per cent of candidates quit job applications because of friction. Many systems are too clunky for the half of applicants who apply late at night. City A M reports that profit warnings from listed firms have hit a two year high. Thirty eight per cent of those firms blamed high energy costs. And The Morning Advertiser reports that nightclubs are closing at twice the rate of the rest of the sector. Four hundred and fifty five clubs have closed since twenty twenty.

Finally, Whitbread C E O Dominic Paul has hit back at critics over recent job cuts. As Propel reports, he argued that government policy is the main driver. The group's business rates bill is set to hit two hundred million pounds by twenty twenty eight. This is forcing the firm to convert restaurants into hotel rooms to protect its returns. Elsewhere, industry leaders have delivered a petition to Number Ten with four hundred thousand signatures. The Caterer reports they are calling for a V A T cut to ten per cent. And a government committee is urging a probe into Live Nation's market dominance to protect grassroots music venues.

Three things to think about before you get on with the day. If the business rates threshold rises to eighteen thousand pounds, have you modelled which of your smaller sites will drop out of the net and how you would reallocate that cash? With eighty four per cent of candidates abandoning applications due to friction, when was the last time you tried to apply for a job at your own company on a mobile phone at eleven at night? And if you are running a restaurant brand, are you seeing the same volume shift to retail that Molson Coors is reporting, and does your mid week pricing reflect that competition?

The full rundown is at ops dash club dot com, where every story links back to the publication that reported it. Today's pulled from The Caterer, Propel, Restaurant Online, Hospitality and Catering News, City AM and The Morning Advertiser - a signpost to their reporting, not a replacement for it. Scripted and read by AI and published without a human check, so check the original before you act on anything. For longer conversations with the people running the sector, find the Hospitality Ops Club podcast. That is your briefing. Have a great day.