Boxpark appoints new property director

Boxpark has recruited Simon Bishop as its new property director to help drive forward its development plans and launch its new co-working business. He will create a five-year programme of rolling acquisitions focusing on London, Bristol, Cardiff, Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds, Edinburgh and Glasgow. These new sites will be for the expansion of Boxpark’s food and retail venues, but also the addition of its new co-working business, BoxOffice, which will be incorporated into new Boxpark sites. Boxpark is also looking to create smaller food and beverage destinations, to be known as BoxHalls, covering 10,000 sq ft to 20,000 sq ft and featuring between six and 12 street food traders. Bishop joins from brewery and pub firm Wells & Co, where he was head of acquisitions for more than a year, focusing on acquiring new pubs and hotels for its managed pubs business and tenancies. Prior to this he was an acquisitions advisor for Brakspear Brewery, and property and acquisitions director for the Peach Pub Company. Bishop also spent nearly nine years as acquisitions director at Scottish & Newcastle and over a year at City Inn Hotels. Roger Wade, chief executive and founder of Boxpark, said: “Despite closing our sites for over 12 weeks, we’ve tried to maintain a positive outlook by realising our key strengths as a business and future prospects. Luckily for us, we’ve had a great bounce back; since reopening our site footfall and like-for-like sales have surpassed our expectations, but there’s no time to stand still. “I believe opportunities arise from every situation and I’m delighted to bring Simon onboard to identify the best options for our new site concepts, so that we can continue to deliver fantastic sites and experiences. We are more focused than ever on our growth strategy and we think Simon holds the perfect skill set and experience to help us reach our ambitions.” Bishop added: “I think Boxpark is a brilliant brand with huge potential – over the last decade, it has continued to evolve fearlessly and is now one of the biggest food and entertainment hubs in London. I’m looking forward to delivering sites over the next years and playing my role in bringing the Boxpark vision to life.” To send feedback, e-mail louise.dransfield@egi.co.uk or tweet @DransfieldL or @estatesgazette Image courtesy of PR