The Ultimate change in business names

Nov 29 2007 by Graeme King, The Journal

THE end of an era dawned yesterday as shareholders in Ultimate Leisure, the company which epitomised Newcastle’s reputation as a party city, voted to change its name.

Ultimate was known for its “vertical drinking” bars and clubs run by high profile chief executive Bob Senior and chairman Allan Rankin.

But now the business, under the stewardship of new boss Mark Jones, is to be known as Premium Bars and Restaurants to reflect its shift away from pure late night bars and into being a more sophisticated food-led company.

And following the company’s annual general meeting which was asked to approve the name change, Mr Jones said the company’s new direction with the acquisition of the Living Room and Bel and the Dragon chains, would be reinforced in the coming year with up to £10m to be spent on five new outlets. While Ultimate has been buying more food-led businesses in recent months, it has also been selling some of its under- performing late night operations.

The company has recently disposed of outlets in Derby and Cork, Ireland, with three more deals set to go through shortly – including two in Newcastle.

Yesterday Mr Jones said Ultimate was enjoying sales 93% ahead of last year for the first 21 weeks of its financial year, and he was pleased to see bookings for Christmas doing well, too.

He said: “We have diversified. If I had been giving a statement today without the work we’ve done on acquiring businesses and ‘pruning our tail’, maybe things would be different. We have worked hard to provide a platform for growth, with one big acquisition and one medium sized one.

“Our future capital expenditure plans revolve around growing those businesses. In the next calendar year, we want to add five new businesses, spending between £7m and £10m. Three of those are already visible – split between the Living Room and pub restaurant sites for Bel and the Dragon.”

Mr Jones said Ultimate – or Premium was it will be from Friday, December 7 – was looking for new leisure developments to base new Living Room outlets in, following the completion of a new site on the harbourside in Bristol.

For Bel and the Dragon, the company will be seeking pub/restaurant sites that are already going concerns where Ultimate can invest to improve the business.

Mr Jones said he understood some people might be sentimental about the loss of the Ultimate name, with its hedonistic associations with Newcastle night life, but the company’s market had changed, so he had to make changes, too.

He said: “Some people will also shed a tear with the boat (Tuxedo Princess) closing down, but the restaurant and bar market is extremely dynamic and it has changed.

“Firstly, through the changes to licensing laws, and through the smoking ban. I expect to see a lot more radical shifts in companies running late night bars, as there has been such a big social impact from the changes.

“We are keeping the Ultimate Leisure name as a division of the company, but not for the parent company.

“The Ultimate name did not reflect where we were heading. I wanted to make the statement that now 60% of our sales are from our newly acquired businesses.”