Revolution Bars Group, previously known as Inventive Leisure and The New Inventive Bar Company, is a city centre bar chain with headquarters in

Ashton-under-Lyne Ashton-under-Lyne is a market town in Tameside, Greater Manchester, England. The population was 45,198 at the 2011 census. Historically in Lancashire, it is on the north bank of the River Tame, in the foothills of the Pennines, east of Manche ...

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: Manchester, Salford, Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tam ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. The bar brands trade under the names Revolution and Revolución de Cuba.

Background

It was founded by Roy Ellis and Neil Macleod, who had met in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

in the 1980s. They opened their first bar in Ashton-under-Lyne in 1991, with

nightclubs A nightclub (music club, discothèque, disco club, or simply club) is an entertainment venue during nighttime comprising a dance floor, lightshow, and a stage for live music or a disc jockey (DJ) who plays recorded music. Nightclubs gener ...

and a music venue following soon after. In 1996 they moved away from the previously unbranded bars and clubs to start the Revolution chain, with

vodka Vodka ( pl, wódka , russian: водка , sv, vodka ) is a clear distilled alcoholic beverage. Different varieties originated in Poland, Russia, and Sweden. Vodka is composed mainly of water and ethanol but sometimes with traces of impuriti ...

being featured as the principal product. In 2000, the company floated on the

Alternative Investment Market AIM (formerly the Alternative Investment Market) is a sub-market of the London Stock Exchange that was launched on 19 June 1995 as a replacement to the previous Unlisted Securities Market (USM) that had been in operation since 1980. It allows ...

, by this point having 21 bars. It was bought out in 2006 by

Alchemy Partners Alchemy Partners is a British private equity firm, which specialises in investing in distressed and undervalued or underperforming businesses and other special situations through debt and equity throughout Europe. Alchemy was founded in 1997 b ...

amid competition from

Regent Inns Regent Inns was the British parent company of Walkabout, Jongleurs/Bar Risa and Old Orleans chains. It went into administration in October 2009. The part-time executive chairman was Bob Ivell. Brands Jongleurs is a chain of sixteen comedy clubs ...

and Ultimate Leisure. The deal valued the company at £42.5m. The company was ranked 25th in the 2013

The Sunday Times 100 Best Companies to Work For ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...

list, and employs about 1,800 people. Its turnover in the year ending June 2008 was expected to be £71m with profits of £11m. In 2013, Phill Danks became CEO of Revolution Bars Group. In August 2017, Revolution Bars Group rejected a merger proposal from nightclub operator

Deltic Group Rekom UK (formerly The Deltic Group Limited & The Luminar Group Ltd.) is a private company with an estate of 46 nightclubs and has the largest square footage of nightclub capacity in the United Kingdom. History Luminar Group Holdings plc was ...

, saying Deltic's offer was "not in the best interests of shareholders at this time". In response, Deltic Group said it wanted to appeal directly to shareholders, proposing that existing Revolution shareholders would own 65% of the new company, while Deltic would own the remaining 35%. Revolution Bars Group said it instead preferred a £101.5m takeover offer by

Slug and Lettuce Slug and Lettuce is a chain of bars that operate in the United Kingdom, with a large number located in London and South East England. As of 2017, there are a total of 70 outlets. Hugh Corbett opened the first Slug and Lettuce in Islington i ...

owner Stonegate.

Brands

Revolution

Revolution is the original brand of Revolution Bars Group. The unique selling point is the focus on

Revolución de Cuba

Revolución de Cuba was created in 2011. The focus is on

rum Rum is a liquor made by fermenting and then distilling sugarcane molasses or sugarcane juice. The distillate, a clear liquid, is usually aged in oak barrels. Rum is produced in nearly every sugar-producing region of the world, such as the Ph ...

and

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

References

{{reflist

External links

RevolutionRevolución de Cuba
Pub chains