New funding and 19th site for loungers

Loungers, the privately-owned group behind the Lounge and Cosy Club concepts, has revealed it has secured an additional £1m funding for expansion after switching banks.

The news comes as Loungers opens its 19th site, Santo Lounge in the Shirley suburb of Southampton.

The extra funding followers Loungers' switch from RBS to Santander. This will see Santander refinancing Loungers' existing £1.3m debt with the addition of £200k headroom into the business, plus a £800k revolving facility.

"With the £800k facility from Santander in place we can now develop out our pipeline of sites at pace and push ahead with our goal of having 32 sites by mid-2013," said Loungers managing director Alex Reilley.

The move follows what Reilley described as "a lack of consistency and too much uncertainty from RBS, compared to a genuine appetite to support the growth of the business from Santander".

Santo Lounge has become the company's second site in Southampton. The 2,300 ft venue, the 17th Lounge site, has been secured at a rent of £32.5k per annum from a private landlord. The opening follows a £300k investment.

"It's a typical Lounge site on a very busy secondary high street", said Reilley. "We actually agreed a deal on the site three years ago so it's great to finally have it open, particularly as the first week of trading has been very strong."

Work has already started on Loungers' 20th site, in Stamford, Lincolnshire. It will be the group's third Cosy Club and is expected to open in late October.

It's understood that Loungers has further Cosy Club sites lined up in Exeter, Cardiff and Salisbury, along with two Lounge venues in Bournemouth, one in Birmingham, and one in Hove.