Leading pub retailer Greene King has reached an agreement to open new premises at Weston Gateway Business Park in Weston-super-Mare.
The company, which runs over 2,300 managed and tenanted pubs, restaurants and hotels across the UK, will open one of its popular “Hungry Horse”-branded family pub-restaurants on a 6,500 sq ft plot at the development site just off the A370 heading out of Weston.
Construction work is already under way at the site, which is managed by developer Dowlas, with contractor Midas half-way through building Knightstone Housing’s new HQ building there.
The same team is responsible for building Greene King’s new premises which, along with the pub-restaurant, will include parking spaces for cars and coaches.
Leading independent firm of commercial property consultants Hartnell Taylor Cook provides building consultancy and marketing support to Weston Gateway Business Park.
Andrew Batchelor, partner in the firm’s development team, said: “Historically Weston has always had plenty of land, but for whatever reason it has not been readily available, which in turn has limited employment opportunities and created a perception that the town lacks ambition to attract investment.
“This site demonstrates that when land is made available and used correctly Weston is more than capable of attracting large PLCs, such as Greene King, which will not only create a tremendous facility for Weston, but will also generate much-needed employment opportunities.”
He added that a wide range of businesses had expressed “extremely strong interest” in the remaining five plots at Weston Gateway Business Park.
Matthew Brown, business unit director for Hungry Horse, said: “We considered a number of sites in the area but Weston Gateway Business Park really stood out in terms of location.
“With various infrastructure and development projects in the pipeline for Weston we see it as a town on the up and we are very pleased to now be part of that.”
Gemma Hughes, director at Dowlas UK, said: “We are delighted that Greene King has decided to build at Weston Gateway Business Park. This will provide a great amenity for the business park as a whole and will be a great attraction for future business that come to the site.”
Matthew Brown added: “Hungry Horse is a national family pub chain with its heart firmly in the local community. We look forward to bringing our family-friendly pub dining to Weston and very much hope that the local community will help us to name their new Hungry Horse.”
