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Bow Street Group – improved trading in 2026 with like-for-like sales up 6.1% in March, new brand acquisition talks ongoing, closes three restaurants: Bow Street Group – formerly Tasty, the owner and operator of the Wildwood and Dim T brands – has reported improved trading in 2026, with like-for-like sales up 6.1% in March. In a trading update included in its results for the year to 28 December 2025, the company said: “Trading has continued to improve since the start of the financial year, with like-for-like sales increasing by 6.1% in March 2026. Sites where targeted capital investment has been deployed continue to deliver strong uplifts in performance, while previously underperforming locations have returned to like-for-like growth following refurbishments. The group continues to invest across the estate and implement operational initiatives to drive performance, alongside actively managing its portfolio with the closure and disposal of two Wildwood and one dim t restaurants that were loss making, reducing fixed costs within the business. Early trials of the new Wildwood menu have received positive customer feedback and are expected to support performance as they are rolled out more widely across the estate. The group remains in active discussions with several potential exciting and scalable restaurant brand acquisition targets. While macroeconomic pressures remain, the group’s improving trading performance, cash resources and ongoing investment in the existing estate position it well to deliver further progress during the year.” It comes after the company recapitalised, rebranded and launched a new growth strategy in September – in a move which saw new investors in David Page and Nick Wong come on board. The group said the launch of new strategy and related fundraise of £10.1m has “enabled the company to invest in its existing restaurants, improve technology and operations, and acquire exciting and scalable restaurant brands”. The group reported revenue of £31.3m for the year (2024: £36.6m), a decrease of 14.5% “in line with management expectations and in part driven by restructuring of the group's estate in the prior year”, with 32 restaurants trading at the end of the year (2024: 36 restaurants). It reported adjusted EBITDA of £2.1m (2024: £3.6m), plus an impairment charge of £7.3m (2024: £1.9m). Operating loss before highlighted items was £0.5m (2024: profit of £0.4m), while net cash balance at year end, excluding property lease liabilities, was £11.1m (2024: £3.3m). Executive chairman David Page said: “2025 was an important year for the group as we strengthened our balance sheet and implemented a new strategy for long-term growth. Since joining the group in September, the management team has moved at pace to implement a range of operational initiatives across the business. We are pleased to have seen a clear improvement in trading in the final quarter of 2025 and into 2026, with like for like revenue up across the group by over 5% in the first three months and markedly increased at four refurbished sites by 18.3% in March 2026. Early performances at our refurbished sites have been particularly positive, and our new menu designs have been well received. We are in active discussions with several potential acquisition targets spanning European and Asian cuisine. We are confident that Bow Street Group is a highly attractive platform for exciting restaurant brands, offering structural benefits of scale, operational synergies, and attractive incentivisation plans for entrepreneurial management teams. Looking forward, while the consumer environment remains challenging, we are confident that 2026 will be an exciting year of rebuilding, refreshment and transformation for Bow Street.”

Hollywood Bowl reports strong first half revenue growth of 9.5%, two new UK centres to open in second half: Hollywood Bowl has reported strong revenue growth of £141.5m in the first half of its financial year, up 9.5% compared to the first half of its 2025 financial year. In a trading update for the six months to 31 March 2026, it said UK total revenue up 9.4% on the first half of the 2025 financial year, to £118.4m, while Canada revenue was up 12.8% on a constant currency basis, to CAD 42.9m (£23.2m). Like-for-like revenue growth was 1.9%, including 2.6% growth in the UK and 0.5% in Canada, on a constant currency basis. The company said it has a continued track record of disciplined cost management and that high gross margins make the business well-insulated against inflationary pressures. It said 76% of thegroup's total electricity needs are hedged until end of the 2029 financial year, including 12% provided from on-site solar. During the period, Hollywood Bowl opened a new prime location in Edmonton, Canada, which is “trading well”, bringing the group estate to 77 UK and 16 Canadian centres. Two new UK centres and one Canadian centre are due to open in the second half, with a “strong new centre pipeline for FY2027 and beyond”. The company said a robust balance sheet provides significant capital flexibility and supports growth strategy, with £8.6m capex invested in estate expansion, refurbishments and centre enhancements. Net cash position at 31 March 2026 was £26.0m, with an undrawn £25m revolving credit facility. Chief executive Stephen Burns said: “The benefits of the investments made throughout the UK and Canadian estate, combined with proactive demand generation initiatives and disciplined cost management, are reflected in our strong first half performance. Demand for high-quality, family leisure activities that offer great value for money also remains resilient in both territories, and our cash generative business model allows us to invest where we see opportunities and deliver profitable growth.”

The Rank Group reports continued revenue growth across all businesses, ‘well placed to deliver the medium-term objective of generating at least £100m operating profit’: The Rank Group has reports continued revenue growth across all businesses in the third quarter ending 31 March 2026 and said it is “well placed to deliver the medium-term objective of generating at least £100m operating profit”. Net gaming revenue (NGR) grew 5% to £205.4m year-on-year, with year-to-date NGR up 6% on prior year. On a channel basis, digital NGR for the quarter was up 4% and venues like-for-like NGR was up 6%. As a result of the strong profit conversion from the revenue growth, the group now expects full year underlying like-for-like operating profit to be at least £68m. Grosvenor venues like-for-like NGR grew 5% in the period. The company said “while it is likely that the Middle East conflict will create ongoing uncertainty around international travel, we expect to see continued revenue growth in the fourth quarter”. At a product level, gaming machines were the fastest growing vertical, up 10%, with significant room for further improvement “as we optimise the performance of the additional machines”. Digital like-for-like NGR grew 4%, with the UK business growing 2%. Key mitigations to offset much of the impact of the increase in remote gaming duty (RGD) to 40%, effective from 1 April 2026, have been implemented, with “significant savings in above the line marketing spend, supplier costs and headcount reductions”. It said performance marketing spend and customer incentives “have been protected”. The international business continued to improve, with like-for-like growth of 14% as a result of the platform and customer proposition improvements made over the last 12 months. Mecca venues like-for-like NGR grew 5% in the period. The company said its Mecca venues business is well on track to deliver double digit operating profit in 2026/27, accelerated by the abolition of Bingo Duty, effective from 1 April 2026. The Enracha venues continue to perform strongly, with third quarter like-for-like NGR growth of 9%, driven by continued strong performance in gaming machines, 27%. Total year to date NGR growth is 7%. The group said it expects to deliver further year-on-year revenue growth in the fourth quarter and full year like-for-like underlying operating profits are expected to be at least £68m. Interim chief executive Richard Harris said: “It was pleasing to see continued revenue growth across all businesses and strong profit conversion in the third quarter, despite a tough macroeconomic backdrop. The results demonstrate the resilience of the business, the strength of the customer proposition and the growth initiatives we have in place. Having implemented the actions required to mitigate much of the impact of higher RGD in our UK digital business, and with clear plans in place to drive sustainable revenue growth, the group is well placed to deliver the medium-term objective of generating at least £100m operating profit.”

David Lloyd turns to suburban social scene to drive growth: On a rainy Friday in Northwood, near London, the 350-space car park of a David Lloyd Leisure club is filling up. Inside the five-acre facility, members play padel and tennis, take Reformer Pilates classes, swim in an indoor pool, tap laptops in a workspace and relax in saunas. The FT reports that the 149-club chain, founded by the eponymous British tennis professional in 1982, has morphed into something else. Under private equity ownership, it has steadily become bigger, more expensive and a larger part of the lives of middle-class families in what its executives sometimes call David Lloyd Land. These are suburban families with high disposable incomes and the desire to exercise and socialise: the Northwood club is among the chain’s largest, with 10,300 members. They are what Glenn Earlam, executive chair, calls “a reasonably affluent crowd”. Not as wealthy as members of urban luxury gyms such as the Third Space chain in London, but definitely well off. “The crucial thing is density of wealth,” he said. The formula works. The chain last year had 820,000 members and EBITDA of £281m, a rise of 21%. Northwood is one of its best-equipped and most expensive clubs, with top-tier membership for a couple £498 a month and children £64 each. “Quite a lot of money,” Earlam admits. David Lloyd has been owned since 2013 by TDR Capital, which acquired it for £720m and last year sold the chain to its own continuation fund at a valuation of about £2bn, including £1.2bn debt. The chain has produced strong returns for TDR, which recouped about £550m in dividends and repayments by 2021. It has doubled the number of clubs, adding about 40 in continental Europe, but most of the rise in profitability has come from “premiumisation”. It invests in adding new courts, studios, equipment and spas to existing clubs, then raises prices. This presents a challenge. The turnover of members at a typical club runs at about 30% a year, with those who leave filled in from waiting lists. But despite the initial churn, those who stay for more than 18 months become devotees, remaining for an average of seven years. The chain tries to inculcate loyalty by becoming harder to leave. And while some urban gyms have suffered from the working-from-home trend, David Lloyd’s suburban club locations enable members who live nearby to “work from gym” on Fridays. The heart of the strategy is to become as much a social club as a leisure centre. “There are a hundred ways for you to find someone to play tennis or padel with or meet in a gym or yoga class. We desperately try to encourage the coffee after [exercise],” Earlam said. Although the chain does not plan to expand to the US, he cites its suburban country clubs as a model. There is no sign of its growth appetite fading – Earlam says it could add 50 or 60 clubs to its UK total of 109 and it is expanding in Europe, acquiring the ten-club Aspria chain. The question is how TDR will eventually exit its investment. It has unsuccessfully explored a sale before, and the chain would need lower debt leverage for a public listing. “I think this could be a very good public company,” Earlam said, citing its subscription revenues, backed by waiting lists at clubs such as Northwood. But for now, David Lloyd will remain a private affair.

Pastries, but not kebabs, fall foul of UK junk food advertising ban: A social media influencer’s paid Instagram post promoting Lidl pastries has become one of the first advertisements to be banned under the UK government’s new rules on junk food. However, another ad by the German Doner Kebab fast-food chain, featuring an Inferno OG chicken kebab and a chicken doner burrito, was allowed to stand by the Advertising Standards Authority, after the dishes were not deemed to meet the definitions of “less healthy” foods, reports the FT. New rules came into effect in January banning ads for unhealthy food products from appearing on television or on-demand services between 5.30am and 9pm or in paid online media at any time. The ASA published its first rulings on Wednesday following investigations into four ads under the new rules. The watchdog banned an Instagram post by influencer Emma Kearney for Lidl, featuring shots of cheese pretzels, pain Suisse and almond croissants. But the ASA took no action on an Instagram post by influencer John Fisher, known as Big John, that featured him promoting menu items at a new German Doner Kebab outlet in Romford. The influencer ordered and tasted three items from the menu: an Inferno OG chicken kebab, a rice bowl with chicken and a chicken doner burrito. The items shown in the ad were not classified as HFSS products under the government’s nutrient profiling model and therefore did not qualify as less healthy foods, the ASA said. Guy Parker, chief executive at the ASA, said: “As the ad regulator, our role is to remain impartial and independent, making sure our new [less healthy foods] rules, which reflect the law, are applied fairly and consistently. These initial rulings are an important step in building a clearer picture of how the rules are applied in reality.”