Loungers opens 200th Lounge, but eyes 600

Loungers has opened its 200th Lounge, after launching Verdetto Lounge in Buckingham. 

It's another landmark for the Lounge, Cosy Club and Brightside operator, which has rolled out at speed since its debut opened in Bristol 21 years ago.

Like each Lounge across the UK, Verdetto will contribute an average of nearly £1m investment to the local high street it serves, as well as the creation of up to 30 new jobs. 

"We are hugely proud of the positive impact that our sites have had on local communities right across the UK since opening the first Lounge 21 years ago," says Alex Reilley, chairman and co-founder of Loungers plc (pictured). "We are determined to continue playing a major role in breathing new life into high streets, as well as creating and sustaining much needed local employment. Time and time again we’ve seen that the opening of a Lounge has a really positive knock-on effect on the businesses around it and, of course, on the local employment market. Last year alone we created around 1,000 new jobs through new site openings and are on course to comfortably exceed that figure in the current year." 

A third of the way

Once open, the Lounge team connects with their local area, working with community groups and nurturing charity partnerships that are personal to the teams working in their Lounges.   

Over the past 21 years, 200 communities have benefitted from events, from parent and baby groups and coffee mornings to quiz nights and painting classes. The group aspires to host 10,000 community events every year, as part of its ongoing commitment to bringing people together. 

Loungers, which recently made it to the final of The Classic Cocktail Competition, has stated its belief that there is scope for at least 600 Lounges across the UK, and also announced that it intends to open 34 new sites across its three brands in the current financial year alone.

"To be opening our 200th Lounge is a fantastic landmark, but there is lots more for us to go for," adds Reilley. "We firmly believe that there is scope to have at least three times that number of Lounges in the longer term, and we are more ambitious than ever before about our plans for the future." 

The 200th opening brings the total estate size up to 238, including 35 Cosy Clubs and three Brightsides. 

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