Hay Hill Property secures sites for Rileys in both Chester and Cardiff

Rileys confirms £2.3m of new funding and actively seeking sites in six major cities, with Cardiff in legals, H1 lfl sales up 9.8%: Sports bar operator Rileys has confirmed it has £2.3m of new funding and is actively seeking sites in six major cities. Propel exclusively revealed in March that Rileys had secured further funding to grow the business after reporting a first profit in six years and sales growth almost 50% up on pre-pandemic levels. It has now confirmed the receipt of £2.3m from Triple Point Private Credit, with some of this money already being used to complete the refurbishment of its Nottingham city centre site, which reopened in June. The renovated site has introduced augmented reality darts, shuffle board and air hockey for the first time, alongside 32 pool and snooker tables. The company is now actively seeking new sites in Bristol, Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Newcastle and Glasgow, with a Cardiff site in legals. Finance director Tom McMahon, said: “Raising money in this economic environment was not easy, but we were able to demonstrate to the Triple Point Private Credit team Rileys’ strong track record of sales and profit growth post covid. The loan has enabled us to refurbish Nottingham and will relocate the Rileys in Chester this autumn to a more prominent location in the city.” It comes as Rileys reports for like for like sales growth of 9.8%, up £395,000 to £4.4m, for the first six months of 2023. Ebitda was £625,000. Chief executive Craig Mayes added: “These positive results and a significant commitment to invest in Rileys will allow us to continue to premiumise our existing estate. We have now completed six refurbishments, each one performing better than the last. We have secured a location in Cardiff which is in legals, so we are looking forward to opening our first new site and the second Rileys in Wales.” Rileys, which is owned by Weight Partners Capital, went into administration in July 2020, immediately closing four sites to take its estate to 13. It last summer said it was ready to hit the expansion trail once more, as it hunted “multiple sites” to grow its portfolio.