In his final opinion piece of 2020, Oakman Inns CEO Dermot King discusses tax breaks for tourism and hospitality industries to help save UK towns.

Oakman Inns’ success has built up over the past 14 years, through great service delivered by an amazing team but we would not be able to do what we do, if it wasn’t for you – our valued customers.

Oakman Inns is now raising capital to unlock the next phase of its growth and you can be a part of it.

As England emerges from a second lockdown and businesses adapt to the new tier system, in his latest opinion piece for inews.co.uk, Oakman Inns CEO Dermot King discusses how the government is forcing the hospitality sector to big up the tab.

Independent, multi-site pub group, Oakman Inns, and their Founder and Chairman, Peter Borg-Neal, are no strangers to winning awards, in good times. However, winning two that have been voted for by your peers is bound to be a special moment. This week, the accolades were awarded at the virtual CGA Peach Hero & Icon Awards – which were hosted by the hospitality industry’s international data and insight consultancy, CGA.

With England heading for a second national lockdown and the hospitality industry being forced to, once again, close it’s doors, Oakman Inns CEO Dermot King discusses the need for more protection from the government for the industry.

Oakman Inns Executive Chairman Peter Borg-Neal sat down with Tristan O’Hana to discuss the challenges facing the hospitality industry, dealing with politicians and how Oakman Inns have fared over the last few months.

Oakman Inns and Peter Borg-Neal have been nominated in three categories at the 2020 CGA Peach Hero & Icon Awards.

The Oakman Group has issued a trading update for the 13 weeks.

In brief, The Oakman Group, which consists of Oakman Inns and Ashmore Inns, traded 40.6% higher at £15.1m sales with the four fledgling Ashmore Inns contributing £1.3m. Oakman Inns’ 24 pubs and restaurants showed a Like-for-Like increase of 25.4% , up £2.7m. Wet Sales were up 12.7% and Dry up 45.5% on Like-for-Like sales. Unsurprisingly, room sales across the estate were down 52.3%.

In his second opinion piece for inews.co.uk, Dermot King argues that planning laws need to change in order for the High Street to recover post Coronavirus.

Following this week’s announcement of a 10pm curfew for pubs and restaurants, Dermot King, CEO of Oakman Inns says his business and other COVID-secure hospitality operators can lead the way in creating a safe socialising environment through the next six months and beyond.

In an opinion piece for inews.co.uk, Oakman Inns CEO Dermot King argues that ambitious reforms are needed to support the hospitality industry.

Oakman Inns’ CEO, Peter Borg-Neal, said: “We’re delighted that the Prime Minister, the Government and their Scientific advisors have listened to the hospitality industry and the recent comments we’ve made with regard to our determination to open our doors, and welcome their decision to reopen the pubs and restaurants of England on 4th July. Far more important, however, is the decision to reduce the 2m social distancing rule to 1m plus.”

Oakman Inns will open all of their 28 pubs on July 4 - and have challenged the Prime Minister to tell them otherwise.

Some 90% of their 1,000 employees have been on furlough since pubs were told to lock their doors in March, but now Oakman’s Chief Operating Officer Dermot King has said they are preparing to serve drinks and food on their premises again.

Whilst there is still a lot of uncertainty around when pubs and restaurants may be permitted to reopen, we are looking forward to the day that we will be able to welcome you back to your local. The senior team at Oakman Inns have been exploring the changes and precautions that may need to be made so that you can enjoy a visit to your local Oakman Inn should you choose to.

Oakman Inns & Restaurants is delighted to announce their results for the 15* months to the end of June 2019. Oakman’s turnover for the period was £46.7m, an increase in like-for-like sales of 7.3%. Site EBITDA was £8.6m with Group EBITDA £4.2m. Despite inflationary pressures, margins have been maintained, with the average sales per core Oakman Inn running at over £35k net of VAT per week.

The Lost Boy will be found at 3 Downing Street in Farnham from Friday September 6th 2019 when the Old Town’s newest arrival opens its hospitable doors at midday. A substantial investment by its owners, Oakman Inns, in the sympathetic restoration of the attractive Listed 18th Century Georgian building will also see an impressive make-over of the newly extended gardens, with outside seating and terraced areas by RHS Chelsea Gold medallist, Kate Gould.

Oakman Inns is pleased to announce that the The Royal Foresters in Ascot, which re-opened last year following a £multimillion redesign, has been nominated for The AJ Retrofit 2019 awards in the Hospitality, Retail and Leisure sector.

The Chairman and Directors of Oakman Inns are delighted to announce continuing strong sales growth for the 13 weeks to June 30th 2019.

The Like-for-Like sales for the quarter were up 4.8%. Total sales were £10,775,947, which represents a 28.8% growth over the same period last year.

The Board of Oakman Inns & Restaurants, the fast-expanding pub group, is delighted to announce the appointment of prominent industry figure, Steven Kenee as Chief Investment Officer. He is currently a partner of Downing LLP which manages over £1 billion of UK company investment. Steve spearheaded over £156m of investments, predominantly into the pub industry, and will be joining Oakman full-time in September 2019.

Pub group, Oakman Inns, has completed the acquisition of seven freehold public houses with combined EBITDA of £2.8m from funds managed by Downing LLP. The transaction was completed in three tranches with the purchase of two companies Downoak Ltd (The Akeman, Tring, The Akeman Inn, Kingswood; The Crown & Thistle, Abingdon) and Hedderwick Ltd (Banyers House, Royston; The Cherry Tree, Olney) as well as The Globe in Warwick, which was previously held in a partnership.