2024 was another busy and productive year at Bruce Gillingham Pollard.

Delighted to report that we saw the business go from strength to strength. The team completed a little over 25% more deals than 2023, with an increase across hospitality and retail as well as the tenant rep and investment teams.

We’ve seen an increase in smaller lettings, less than 2,500 sq.ft. and in the very large. What’s driven this? The decline in F&B chains looking for space has driven a reduction in mid sized units, while many of the bigger lettings have been to large scale leisure operators such as K1 Speed in Xsite Braehead – soon to host the world’s longest indoor karting track – or BAM Karaoke in Victoria.

Where to start with leasing highlights? Let’s kick off with Retail – highlights include Horatio at the Royal Exchange, Sabre on Chiltern Street, Percival and Nobody’s Child at Spitalfields, and Aromaria on Regent Street. 63 signings in Canary Wharf included Trinny, Next and Newbie, and over on Pimlico Road the lovely Volga Linen, Lapacida and The New Craftsmaker. On our new instruction at Brent Cross it’s been lovely to see openings from L’Occitane, Polo Ralph Lauren and Neom, alongside upsizes from existing retailers including Lovisa and JD Sports, which is set to double its footprint when it reopens in the spring.

Our Tenant Representation team completed a varied range of deals across the country, including the Ronning Menswear London flagship, the Rhode Skin Motcomb Street pop up, Aesop Leeds, Maison Zilli South Audley Street and Little Houses Group Parson’s Green.

Leisure-wise, the team secured exciting lettings to bring Lane 7 & Toca Social to Bullring, Flight Club to Oxford and Fairgame to One New Change.

Last and certainly not least, F&B; we saw great openings from the Canary Wharf team with Roe, Marceline and Kricket. We brought Sabor, Ambassadors Clubhouse and Fonda to Heddon St for our client The Crown Estate; Wildflowers on Pimlico Road, Engel and Jang in the Royal Exchange and Sunday in Brooklyn and Kroketa to St Christophers Place. Key openings nationally include Six by Nico in Oxford and Big Mamma’s La Bellezza alongside Cow & Sow in Birmingham.

Last year also saw our first BGP Presents event, as we hosted five fabulous guests for a fascinating panel discussion about Bringing Retail Offline. Thank you to all our clients who came and participated in the conversation –  more events in the pipeline over the coming months. Revisit the highlights here. https://www.brucegillinghampollard.com/journal/

Team news – we realised recently that we now have 7 members of the team that have been with us more than 10 years! I personally couldn’t be more delighted to recognise and celebrate their success, it’s been a joy to watch them progress to senior roles in the company; well done. A heartfelt thank you on behalf of the founding partners, to Charlotte, Nick, Jack, Victoria, Emily and Thea, who have all helped make BGP what it is today. We were also delighted to welcome Harry Elliott to our tenant rep team, Emily Cann to our London leasing team and Danny Cardosi and Jonny Palmer to Investment in 2024- more hires to be announced in the coming weeks.

Looking ahead in 2025 we have lots of exciting new projects coming up, such as preparations to launch South Molton – soon to be the largest mixed-use development in the West End. We will be moving offices to accommodate our growing team within the coming weeks – details to follow. We will soon be able to share details of how we are building out our Lease Consultancy division – and are excited to continue our expansion overseas as we represent new operators in international markets. This year promises to be exciting – and very busy!  Happy New Year to all our clients, colleagues and associates – here’s hoping 2025 is a successful one for us all.