IT’S good to report a massive regional success story on the eve of Northern Restaurant & Bar, the UK’s largest hospitality trade show outside London (March 20 and 21).
The NRB’s new survey in conjunction with hospitality data and insight specialists CGA shows booming restaurant and bar scenes in Liverpool, Manchester and Leeds are growing at rates more than double those of London.
Northern cities now dominate this latest league table of hospitality growth, occupying six of top eight places, with independent operators leading the surge as some casual dining chains struggle.
The number of city centre outlets within the “M62 corridor” has increased by over 20 per cent over the last five years, a percentage double that of London during the same period.
The data, from CGA’s Outlet Index, covered the central business districts of every major city which contained over 100 licensed premises. Liverpool topped the chart with 25.2 peer cent growth over a five year period, with Manchester close behind on 24.9 peer cent and Leeds in third place on 20.5 per cent. Overall Northern cities occupied six of the places in the top eight.
NRB CEO Thom Hetherington said “We’re delighted but not surprised by the data, we have seen the changes first hand – new restaurants and bars are opening almost every day. Despite this being a challenging period for hospitality businesses, the growth is being largely driven by ambitious regional independents.”
Jamie Campbell, retail business unit director of CGA, told us: “Of course, London is a much bigger restaurant and bar scene in absolute terms, but percentages don’t lie, the change in the cities in the North is more pronounced and has a proportionally greater impact on diners, whether residents or tourists. Moreover we are working on additional data which shows that growth in the region is indeed being driven by independents, with the featured Northern cities showing an increase in independent outlets at over twice the national rate.”
The 18th NRB show is again at Manchester Central on Tuesday, March 20 an Wednesday, March 21, hosting 275 exhibitors and delivering 65 exciting live food and drink demos. Among chefs cooking live will be Gary Usher of Hispi (pictured above). Free trade only tickets are available here.
• Manc founder of one of the world’s 50 Best Restaurants joins NRB debate