The increasingly dynamic hospitality sector in the north of England has been widely reported across many media.Barometers such as new restaurant openings underline this recognising not just the volume of openings but also the diversity.
The range of restaurant choices now satisfies almost every multicultural option and price point.
Leisure consultants CGA Peach report that the restaurant scenes of city centres like Manchester and Leeds are expanding faster than that of London. The hospitality scene in Newcastle was recognised by Guardian readers recently voting Newcastle as their favourite UK city. The Top 10 budget restaurants and cafes in Newcastle also featured in The Guardian personifies diversity and the fact that the dynamic northern hospitality scene is spread across the whole region.
The hotel and fine dining panorama is equally inspiring and there is no better illustration of this than Northcote. Northcote is a small luxury hotel with a Michelin star restaurant situated on the edge of the Ribble Valley, in the heart of Lancashire. The restaurant sees menus from Nigel Haworth, cooked by head chef Lisa Allen and brigade and wines carefully selected by Craig Bancroft, truly fine dining with true Northern hospitality. Many now refer to it as the Le Manoir of the north.
Interesting to note, when looking through the websites of restaurants, hotels and pubs located in the north their use of social media is prolific and would seem to be very effective. Through Twitter, Facebook and almost every other social channel these businesses are engaging with customers in a meaningful way and reaping their rewards.
The use of social media by businesses across the whole of the UK still seems to be a mystery to many, much to the satisfaction of their competitors who know exactly how to. How any business ignores the fact that over half the UK population uses social media does seem remiss?
The hospitality sector however is addressing this through Hospitality & Catering News’ #HandCSocial events. Following the successful launch of a roundtable event in London that brought together users of social media, this event is now heading north.
We spoke with Denis Sheehan who organises the events and asked why go north?
‘I would love to claim the insight and glory but it was one of our event sponsor/partners that has to take the credit. Peter Kitchin, MD at C&C Catering Equipment came up with the idea and as soon as he did it made complete sense. There is just so much happening in the north we knew immediately that we needed to get up there and try to better understand what’s happening’.
Another initiative at Hospitality & Catering News is to provide social media training through a partnership with social media consultant Vikki O’Neil. Vikki has been working with restaurants for 16 years, mainly in London but including the launch of 3 new restaurant brands into the Manchester dining scene over the past 15 years. We asked Vikki about northern social. ‘The use of social media up north for restaurants often mirrors the northerner behind it in real life, so in the main it’s down to earth, funny, engaging and doesn’t take itself too seriously – what’s not to love about that?’ Precisely nothing in our view!
Northern Restaurant & Bar recently released details of The NRB Top 50 2015 Powerlist. A mix of long-established names and up and coming operators, 90% of whom are planning yet more launches and expansion in the region. Impressive and precisely why this region is one to watch.
So we can only conclude, the northern hospitality scene is without doubt a shining light within the hospitality sector and one that looks set to burn brightly for some time to come.