WEBINAR: Life After the Lockdown – Reopening the Leisure Sector

WEBINAR: Life After the Lockdown – Reopening the Sector

Specifically, we will share some of the early learnings from other countries and ask how these might influence the plans of pubs, restaurants, bars and leisure businesses in the UK.

China has re-opened approximately 80% of its F&B provision and with different rules applying across different provinces. Spain reopens its restaurants week commencing May 11th, with Italy set to follow the following week. Germany has already dipped its toes in the water with cinemas, opening drive-in screens across the country.

Many operators in the UK are worried about the impact of social distancing on their sustainability both through reduced visits, reduced capacity and the likely cost of providing social distancing and public health measures.

How are Landlords working with their tenants to bring their shopping centres and leisure schemes back to life?

We will hear from Jamie Taylor, Head of Property Operations at major landlord, Landsec, on how they are planning for life after lockdown.

We will also hear from Keith Pullinger, Co-founder of The Light Cinemas.  Keith has worked in the cinema industry for over thirty years, holding Board positions at Virgin, UGC and Cineworld Cinemas. His experience as an operator and consultant extends to developing and running cinemas in the UK, Ireland, Japan, Spain, Romania and Germany. Across these territories, he has been responsible for developing 37 new cinema complexes with more than 300 screens, including some of the highest performing cinemas in Europe. He is now focussed on developing the next generation of cinemas for The Light’s expansion.

We will be given an overview of experiences outside the UK by Ian Hanlon, Director at JLL Foodservice Consulting, who has worked in gastronomy all his life in various Food & Beverage Management positions, after leaving University with a BA Degree in Hospitality Management. A return to University to undertake a Masters Degree in International Management was followed by a move into University Lecturing as well as publishing industry reports on the hospitality sector. Ian joined Coverpoint in 1999 in the role of Research Manager, before rising through the company to the role of Director. Now with JLL, he continues to provide strategic foodservice advice to a worldwide client base.

Finally we will be joined by Shereen Ritchie, MD of Leon UK. Shereen has 22 years of experience in restaurants, PR and maintenance. She’s renowned for being able to give a masterclass in how to lead by inspiration, and the TGI Fridays trick of how to hold 6 glasses in one hand. Her ‘Only Way is Essex’ upbringing taught her to add glitter and unicorns to everything and she will join us in this webinar to give us insight on the challenges faced by the sector as we look to return to a new ‘normal’.

Our Chair for this webinar is Ann Elliott, who has been involved as an operator and consultant in the leisure and hospitality world for many years. She is the founder of Elliotts, a leading marketing agency in the sector, and sits on the UHK events and casual dining committees, the Arena committee and is a regular organiser of, and contributor to, leisure and hospitality sector events.

The webinar will focus on learnings from countries around the world, consider the UK government’s recently announced ‘re-opening plan’, and what operators in the UK are planning to do to get back to business.

The webinar will be held on Zoom which is free to users. You will be able to join our seminar here – zoom.us/join – once you have registered and received the event details.

Please submit your questions in advance by 18th May 2020 via email – info@leisurepropertyforum.co.uk

The LPF is committed to its mission during this crisis, and this virtual event is intended to meet our objectives to both inform and facilitate the sharing of vital information on your behalf.

Speaker Presentations