Bristol-based café/bar/restaurant group Loungers has announced that they will be opening a new site on Corn Street in the city in late spring. The group, which is known in the city for their cafe/bar ‘Lounge’ concept, has taken a lease on 31 Corn Street with the intention of bringing their award-winning Cosy Club brand to the city.
Loungers was founded in 2002 with the opening of Lounge café/bar on North Street, Bedminster. The group now operates 42 sites across the UK of which 36 operate as ‘Lounges’ (6 of which are located in suburban Bristol). In 2010 the group launched the Cosy Club brand in Taunton and since then further Cosy Club sites have been added in Bath, Stamford (Lincs), Salisbury, Cardiff, and Exeter. Unlike the Lounge concept the group looks for more central locations which are much larger and tend to be buildings of interest or challenging spaces. The Cosy Club concept is described as being quirky, eccentric and playful and offers informal casual dining, drinking and lounging in a homely and family friendly environment.
‘Think gents club meets village hall meets cricket pavilion.’ Alex Reilley, MD & co-founder of Loungers said, “We’ve been looking for a site to bring the Cosy Club to Bristol for a couple of years now and have been watching Corn Street with a lot of interest. When 31 Corn Street became available we moved very fast to secure the site as it’s a perfect space to house the Cosy Club concept. It’s an absolutely stunning building on arguably Bristol’s grandest street and we believe that Corn Street has a massive amount of potential to become a really special place in the Bristol food and drink scene”.
Loungers, who scooped the Restaurant Magazine’s Best Overall Restaurant Operator award in November last year, are set to open 15 new sites this year and now employ in excess of 1000 people. It is anticipated the Bristol Cosy Club will be developed at a cost of £600k and open in late May creating 40 jobs.