Keeping things fresh

Ollie Vaulkhard is director of North East leisure company Vaulkhard Group which he co-owns with brother Harry.

Formerly called Fluid Group, the leisure company expanded its offerings earlier this year to form the Vaulkhard Group and has invested £4milion into developing several of its venues across the North East over the next three years.

As a group, we try to stay on top of ongoing maintenance and aim to refresh or refurbish our sites every 5-10 years depending on each venue and are of the view that it is not possible to entirely cut corners in this industry if you want the right outcome. To do the job properly, the maintenance work is very much dependent on the budget.

Each space and venue is different depending on clientele and the location of each venue – it’s about attracting the right audience to each site which in turn reflects on what those customers deem to be ‘stylish’. We try to exceed expectation with all of our venues to their respective clientele and maximise space carefully which reflects in the different layouts of each bar, restaurant etc.

It is important to create a good social meeting place whether in a hotel bar or a late night bar so furniture always needs to be comfortable and then fashionable in that order. However it is important that the furniture reflects their environment too. Music volume is very important along with the content; similarly with lighting – some venues need to be lighter than others to suit the operation at various times of the day as well as utilising natural lighting that is already flowing into the building.

We’re fortunate enough to have grown long established relationships with local and national suppliers within the industry and they’re all very supportive of our commitment to quality, as a result we tend to get great deals and support to help champion their brands.

For further information on Vaulkhard Group’s offerings please visit our website or follow them on Twitter.