Loungers, the Bristol-based trendy café bar chain which last year secured a £16m investment, is to open its 26th outlet next week.
Grupo Lounge, in Westbury on Trym, is its sixth venue in the city. Its first opened in 2002. It also owns three Cosy Clubs in an estate stretching from the South Coast to the North West.
The chain has spent £500,000 refurbishing Westbury’s former Blockbusters store to create Grupo, which opens on Thursday.
Operations manager Jody Chapman said it chose Westbury because of its “diverse demographic and densely populated residential neighbourhood”.
Last year Loungers signed a £16m investment deal with Piper Private Equity to help grow its chain to 50 over three to five years.
The company was founded by friends Alex Reilley, Jake Bishop and Dave Reid, who saw an opportunity to create a new chain of informal, neighbourhood all-day café-bars.
Their idea was to provide customers with a ‘third space’ between work and home to meet, chat, eat and drink – and a more attractive and appealing alternative to the surrounding local pubs and coffee bars.
