Wells & Co invests into French pub estate
Pub and brewery group Wells & Co has invested nearly £400k to refurbish two existing pub sites in Bordeaux. The post Wells & Co invests into French pub estate appeared first on The Drinks Business.
Pub and brewery group Wells & Co has invested nearly £400k to refurbish two existing pub sites in Bordeaux.
The business, which operates 19 sites in France across nine cities, spent £155k on refurbishing the The Houses of Parliament site in Bordeaux and £244k on The Market Tavern in a bid to create modern and welcoming environments for customers as well as ensuring the sites continue to appeal from the high street.
Upgraded audio and visual equipment will make The Houses of Parliament the city’s go-to venue for live sports action and the pub now houses two state-of-the-art interactive darts lanes.
Nearby, The Market Tavern has seen a near quarter of a million-pound makeover, with the venue being transformed to increase capacity. The former cellar has been demolished to open up trade space and create more and comfortable seating. A redesign of the site layout has also been completed, creating a new stand-alone kitchenette and glass wash zone as well as a new bar counter and backfitting, new furniture and redecoration throughout.
The refurbishments are part of an extensive capital expenditure programme planned for 2025 across France and the UK.
Speaking about the refurbishments, Ariane Lapegue, director of operations for Wells & Co France, said: “Our investment in both The Houses of Parliament and The Market Tavern in Bordeaux ensures that we can continue to meet the evolving needs of our customers. The introduction of the interactive darts at The Houses of Parliament follows the successful implementation across our UK estate and will be a valuable indicator in determining future roll-outs across the rest of our French sites.”
Lapegue explained: “With an ever-changing market, it is essential we are creating spaces that reflect our unique proposition of a traditional English pub in France and these refurbishments are critical in enabling us to continually deliver experiences that appeal to both new and existing customers.”
The refurbishments in its French estate follow the acquisition of two new sites in 2023, which included the purchase of The Houses of Parliament, along with the Queen Elizabeth in Strasbourg in July 2024. As well as investment in France, the firm has said that it has an extensive capital expenditure programme planned for 2025 to continue to appeal to UK customers, with several upgrades scheduled throughout the year.
Peter Wells, chief executive at Wells & Co said: “Across the whole of our French estate, we are continuing to see growing demand from our customers for a traditional English pub experience. To enable our brilliant teams to consistently meet and exceed those customer expectations, we are committed to investing into the ongoing development of our pubs in France. The recent extensive refurbishments in two of our sites in Bordeaux will allow us to both enhance the experiences that we offer, as well as drive more customers into our pubs – with customers beginning to have a clear expectation as to what they can expect in each of our venues in the city.”
Wells added: “While we will continue to invest into the development of our French estate, we are working closely with our partners in the UK to ensure we can continue to deliver the best possible support in what is an extremely difficult time for operators across the whole of the hospitality sector.”
The business, which operates 19 sites in France across nine cities, spent £155k on refurbishing the The Houses of Parliament site in Bordeaux and £244k on The Market Tavern in a bid to create modern and welcoming environments for customers as well as ensuring the sites continue to appeal from the high street.
Upgraded audio and visual equipment will make The Houses of Parliament the city’s go-to venue for live sports action and the pub now houses two state-of-the-art interactive darts lanes.
Nearby, The Market Tavern has seen a near quarter of a million-pound makeover, with the venue being transformed to increase capacity. The former cellar has been demolished to open up trade space and create more and comfortable seating. A redesign of the site layout has also been completed, creating a new stand-alone kitchenette and glass wash zone as well as a new bar counter and backfitting, new furniture and redecoration throughout.
The refurbishments are part of an extensive capital expenditure programme planned for 2025 across France and the UK.
Speaking about the refurbishments, Ariane Lapegue, director of operations for Wells & Co France, said: “Our investment in both The Houses of Parliament and The Market Tavern in Bordeaux ensures that we can continue to meet the evolving needs of our customers. The introduction of the interactive darts at The Houses of Parliament follows the successful implementation across our UK estate and will be a valuable indicator in determining future roll-outs across the rest of our French sites.”
Lapegue explained: “With an ever-changing market, it is essential we are creating spaces that reflect our unique proposition of a traditional English pub in France and these refurbishments are critical in enabling us to continually deliver experiences that appeal to both new and existing customers.”
The refurbishments in its French estate follow the acquisition of two new sites in 2023, which included the purchase of The Houses of Parliament, along with the Queen Elizabeth in Strasbourg in July 2024. As well as investment in France, the firm has said that it has an extensive capital expenditure programme planned for 2025 to continue to appeal to UK customers, with several upgrades scheduled throughout the year.
Peter Wells, chief executive at Wells & Co said: “Across the whole of our French estate, we are continuing to see growing demand from our customers for a traditional English pub experience. To enable our brilliant teams to consistently meet and exceed those customer expectations, we are committed to investing into the ongoing development of our pubs in France. The recent extensive refurbishments in two of our sites in Bordeaux will allow us to both enhance the experiences that we offer, as well as drive more customers into our pubs – with customers beginning to have a clear expectation as to what they can expect in each of our venues in the city.”
Wells added: “While we will continue to invest into the development of our French estate, we are working closely with our partners in the UK to ensure we can continue to deliver the best possible support in what is an extremely difficult time for operators across the whole of the hospitality sector.” 
