Multi-million-pound investment brings the James Brindley into the New World

The James Brindley pub has been a blot on the city centre canalscape for nearly a decade since the once-popular pub closed down in 2008.

But the venue has now been brought back to life by bar group New World Trading Company (NWTC), the spin-out from Gusto and Alchemist owners Living Ventures which underwent a £50m management buyout last year.

The operator of The Botanist chain has transformed the derelict James Brindley pub in Birmingham’s Gas Street Basin, which becomes the group’s 18th venue when it formally opens its doors on Monday.

The multi-million-pound investment – “I don’t like quoting numbers,” said NWTC’s chief exeutive Chris Hill, “but this is a significant investment” – was the result of more than two years of planning, as NWTC mulled over what to do with the site.

But for Hill it’s been worth the wait. “It’s better than I imagined,” he said.

The derelict James Brindley pub, which closed in 2008

The effect of the two-storey building is to have what feels like two ground floor entrances, one from the canalside and one from Bridge Street, off Broad Street, into the upper level.

It is also very well positioned to take advantage of the thousands of people who will be moving into offices in Arena Central from next year. Not that Hill is planing on being patient.

“We think this will do well today, without waiting for anything else,” he said. “We think we have brought something cherished back to life.”

Hill sat down at one of the venue’s pre-launch nights with a pint of Budvar Tank, a beer that has been driven for three days in refrigerated tanks from the Czech Republic to sit in three tanks on the first floor of The Canal House, and one of many interesting touches throughout the pub.

They include a rotisserie, which was inspired by Hill’s visit to a Greek restaurant, 5,000 miles away in San Francisco. He sent a photo to his chef, along with the message “I want this for The Canal House”, and now duck, chicken, pork and lamb is slowly spinning around in open sight of the diners.

Chris Hill, chief executive of New World Trading Company

As many of The Canal House’s 90 staff flitted about, shuttling food from the rotisserie to the tables, setting drinks alight at the bar, and raising and dimming lights trying to get the ambience just right, the 37 year-old briefly reflected on his fast rise from the pot wash to the chief executive’ hot seat.

He began his hospitality career while he was an undergraduate in Nottingham, washing plates in halls of residence and working in a city centre bar.

Having completed his Masters in engineering, he decided to “take six months without an exam” and started work at Bar None, quickly deciding he wanted to stay in the industry.

He returned home to Merseyside in 2003 and joined Living Ventures, working his way up over a decade to running Australasia in Manchester and opening Alchemist bars and Blackhouse restaurants.

NWTC was spun out in 2013, with LDC and Hill Capital Partners taking stakes alongside Living Ventures’ majority shareholding before an MBO in June 2016.

The company currently has 13 Botanist bars, with two planned for Salford Quays and West Bridgford, and five single-site brands. It is also launching a new brand, The Florist, in Bristol later this year and is in a hurry to continue its rapid growth.

“I would like to have five or six brands in every city in the UK,” he said.

But for this week at least, he is focusing on creating some calm for Birmingham’s pub-goers.

“I want you to feel like you are not in the middle of the city centre,” he said. “A little bubble in the middle of town.”