Peach Pubs aims to double estate

Peach Pubs​, the gastropub chain owned by Lee Cash and Hamish Stoddart, is planning to double its estate to 22 over the next few years as the company's business practices and philosophy prove successful.

Cash said the 10 sites already in operation were busy and that current average turnover was healthy, so he believed expansion was possible, even in a recession.

"Turnover is £300k a week outside of London which I'm very proud of," he said.

The pair, who were speaking at the Arena​ hospitality networking event at the Jumeirah Carlton Tower hotel in London last Friday, will see their 11th site, The Almanack, open in Leicester next month and have two sites 'currently in the pipeline'.

When the company was formed in 2002, Cash, who worked for five years with Raymond Blanc at his Petit Blanc chain, said the company's aim was to 'put a great gastropub in every market town in England'.

Cash and Stoddart said they believed the 'Our house is your place' philosophy - to produce unique pubs that customers can call their own and that serve quality food and drink - behind the Peach brand, was working well and that much of its success depended on employing the right people who understood what being 'Peachy' meant.

Cash said: "We try and create the kind of pubs I think everyone would enjoy going to. Our pubs serve the local community and the thing I'm really proud of is that people keep coming back despite the fact that a lot of our team are very transient.

"The team changes but the customers are still the same and they still feel the same level of service, because everyone who works for us has to learn very quickly what it is to be 'Peachy'".

Stoddart added: "Peachy is our word for standards.We have values and if they (staff) can't strive to that then they don't stick around for long".

The next Arena event will take place on Monday 7 December at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel with Simon Vincent, area president Europe for Hilton Hotels Corporation as speaker.