Barracuda's ambitious £6m investment begins

August 1, 2008: The Barracuda Group has opened its latest Smith & Jones site, The Bounty, in Workington, Cumbria.

Representing a £800,000 investment and creating 38 full- and part-time jobs, the opening of The Bounty signifies the next stage of the group’s investment programme wherein it is introducing six new pubs, totalling an investment of around £6 million.

A site in Roath, Cardiff is earmarked to open under the company’s award-winning student brand, Varsity, while the other five sites, including a 21-bedroom 17th century coaching house in March, Cambridgeshire, will open under the Smith & Jones format – pubs with an emphasis on first-class service standards to match the high quality surroundings.

Jane Biss, HR director at the Barracuda Group, said: “The next few months are busy times for Barracuda as we continue to grow as a business. In addition to our investment programme we have a number of refurbishments planned to ensure that our pubs continue to trade at high standards for our customers, both operationally and aesthetically.

"We are also looking to develop our food offer to make sure that we are making the most of opportunities that have arisen since the introduction of the smoking ban.”