New Burger King drive-thru for Newport set to create 40 jobs

14 June 2018

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A new Burger King drive-thru has been announced for Newport Leisure Park, creating around 40 new jobs and providing a new restaurant offering for the Park. Cooke & Arkwright acted on behalf of the franchisee - Swansea-based family firm Unionburger - to source the new site.

Handed over today for the fit-out, it is anticipated that the site will be open for business on 30th July.

The site is owned by Otium Real Estate, a focused leisure property investment company that owns and manages assets across the UK, in cities such as Wakefield, Newport, Milton Keynes and the Isle of Wight.

Since purchasing the 11-acre site in July 2015, Otium has overseen a major transformation of the Park, securing new tenants including Energi, xercise4less, Home Bargains and Tiffins.  

Huw Thomas, director at Cooke & Arkwright, who acquired the site on behalf of Unionburger, said: “The new venture will be the second Burger King in Newport, and Unionburger’s ninth in Wales - further driving Unionburger’s expansion in the region. 

“We’re pleased to have been able to secure the site for Unionburger to grow its business and enable Burger King to expand its Welsh portfolio through an indigenous Welsh franchisee – we are keen to acquire other new sites along the M4 corridor in South Wales and the Border areas.”

Ashley Blake, CEO Otium Real Estate, said: “We are delighted to welcome Unionburger to Newport Leisure Park, ahead of its fit-out. The new Burger King drive-thru will complement our existing tenant line-up and enhance the Park’s offer to customers.”

Unionburger is a Swansea-based family company run by brother and sister Kim Jenkins and Chris Baker, which has been operating since 1983. Its last acquisition was on Commercial Street in Newport, which it acquired in September 2015.

Further Burger King drive-thrus are also scheduled for the Trostre area of Llanelli and in Barry.

Chris Baker, Company Director at Unionburger, said:

“We are excited to be opening our second restaurant in Newport. We anticipate that the opening will create in excess of 40 new jobs. This unit will be our first drive thru built to the new Burger King specification. The shell design has a more modern feel than that of our existing stores both internally and externally.

The City is developing at a rapid pace with growth in both retail and residential sectors.  The sheer number of new homes being built in the surrounding area give us every confidence that this new restaurant will be a worthy addition to our portfolio”.

Cooke & Arkwright have been providing rating valuation advice to The Welsh Rugby Union Limited (“WRU”) and Millennium Stadium plc for many years. They were recently successful in achieving substantial reductions in the assessments of the Millennium Stadium, covering both the 2005 and 2010 rating list. These negotiated reductions yielded savings of c.£3.5m which, crucially, allows the WRU to re-invest in rugby throughout Wales. They advise the WRU across the group portfolio including the National Centre of Excellence in the Vale of Glamorgan. The valuation issues across the WRU portfolio are complex requiring a high level of understanding of the funding and finances of professional sport in Wales. Cooke & Arkwright’s experience and understanding of these issues and application to the rating valuation have yielded these substantial negotiated reductions. The WRU and the Millennium Stadium entrust our work to organisations with the required levels in experience and expertise in dealing with these complex issues. I am glad to say we have this expertise in Wales. I would have no hesitation in recommending ratepayers making use of this Welsh based expertise.

The Welsh Rugby Union Limited, Welsh Rugby Union Group