Mollie’s Motel & Diner to Grow to 100 sites in the Next 10 Years
Main Photo: Mollie’s Motel & Diner
Date: November 2021
Name: Mollie’s Motel & Diner
Locations: UK-wide
Number of Keys: 750 – 1,000 over the next 10 years; Manchester 123 Keys
Seller: TBA
Buyer: Mollie’s Motel & Diner
Mollie’s Motel & Diner aims to grow to 100 sites in the next 10 years. Originally conceived by Nick Jones MBA, the Founder of Soho House, and created under the Soho House umbrella, Mollie’s Motel & Diner became an independent entity in 2020.
A year after launching with a Motel, Diner and Drive-Thru in Buckland, Oxfordshire, in January 2019, followed earlier this year by the second at Cribbs Causeway, Bristol, where the group invested more than £15 million.
The third is expected to arrive in 2022 and will shelter a larger hotel in the former Granada TV Studios in Manchester city centre, with a Soho House located above on the building’s top floors.
Designed by the Soho House interiors team, Mollie’s proposition is described as ‘budget luxe’, focusing on stylish, affordable stays, contemporary design, excellent service, innovative tech, sustainability and destination dining inspired by the retro American roadside diner.
Mollie’s has two formats and is seeking two- to three-acre freehold sites in strategic edge-of-town or roadside locations with the opportunity for 75-plus bedrooms, 145-plus cover diner and car parking. The city centre model will focus on prime city centre locations with high prominence with an opportunity for more than 100 bedrooms, 145-plus cover diner and 125-plus cover lounge/bar.
To achieve the brand’s growth plans, Mollie’s has now appointed Fleurets to support with site search and acquisition. One hotel in the former Granada TV Studios in Manchester is scheduled to open in 2022, and a further 10 locations have already been earmarked.
Head of hotels at Fleurets, Paul Hardwick and Kevin Conibear, said: “We are delighted to be working with Mollie’s to grow this exciting challenger concept in the hotel and leisure market. Mollie’s has reinvented the perception of the roadside hotel and diner, with high quality accommodation and dining, but at affordable prices. The customer response to Bristol has been hugely positive and this is a welcome addition and enhancement to the vibrancy of our city centres and edge of town, roadside locations.”
Mollie’s Motel & Diner is now backed by a new strategic shareholder cohort and led by ex-Soho House and Tesco Plc Managing Director, Darren Sweetland, businessman and property developer Javad Marandi and David Elghanayan, co-founder & Managing Partner at Nema Capital.
Price: Undisclosed
THPT Comment: Motels first appeared in the UK in the late 1960s/early 1970s, modelled along the American concept but with smaller facilities. Nick Jones, rightly regarded as a visionary in the boutique hotel sector, is now aiming to make them cool again.
First Seen: Boutique Hotel News
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