Interview: Sugar Hut CEO Terry Pullen on TOWIE, entertainment and the people of Liverpool

Sugar Hut Group is one of the newest players on Liverpool’s booming nightlife scene.

Outside its southern heartland, the company is perhaps best known for providing a backdrop to all the glitz and drama that unfolds on popular reality show The Only Way is Essex (TOWIE).

But in 2016, the firm set out to expand its national profile with its first Northern venue. I caught up with CEO Terry Pullen this month to find out more.

Discussing the history of the brand, Terry said Sugar Hut has been around for more than 12 years.

“It actually started off in the West End of London, in Chelsea and Fulham,” he explained. “And then we had a club in Essex, which is the one a lot of people know about.”

When asked about the latter bar’s prominent position as a meeting place in TOWIE, Terry said the move on screen was totally naturalistic.

“They approached us to actually pilot one of their first ever episodes,” he told me. “The show ended up going from strength to strength and because of the natural initial connection with us, it then tended to base itself around the club.”

we have developed lots of media links. We like to think we give high-profile people a quality time when they come out with us

Terry said that particular bar, the firm’s Brentwood venue, built up a “very organic, natural affinity” with the people on the TV show, many of whom were its customers anyway.

He continued: “Post that, we have developed lots of media links. We like to think we give high-profile people a quality time when they come out with us and we tend to attract them for, we believe, the right reasons. Not just for the obvious reason of media attention.”

I wanted to know why the company chose Liverpool for its first bar outside the South, as opposed to one of the other bigger cities of the North like Manchester or Leeds. It was all about the people, Terry explained.

“Liverpool for us was a natural target. It really was a complete targeted opening, due to the market research we did.

the general attitude of the people in Liverpool was really good for us to make our next move in coming to the North of England

“Genuinely, we learned that a large number of people from Liverpool and the North West were visiting Sugar Hut in Essex.

“We looked at the science behind it and we really worked out that, we felt, the general attitude of the people in Liverpool – towards fashion, food, entertainment, dining out and a general positive view of life – was really good for us to make our next move in coming to the North of England.”

After deciding to expand into Liverpool and selecting a landmark site in the city centre, Terry said the firm then set about “creating […] a one-stop package entertainment offer, from food, drink, bar, restaurant, cocktails, event, club and everything else in the middle”.

The bar seems to have had a fantastic start since its launch last summer.

Terry continued: “Obviously, we’re in the business for the long term and we want to keep growing on the core principles of people being satisfied with what we’re doing in every department we offer.”

Around £1.5m was ploughed into stripping out and refurbishing Sugar Hut’s Liverpool premises ahead of its opening.

the club itself has been here since the sixties when it traded as She, a very popular nightclub

Terry said of the re-fit: “In Liverpool, we went back on three floors, 15,000 sq ft. We went back to the brick and started again.

“The place has been here for a long time, even way before the Living Room [a former occupant of 15 Victoria Street]. The club itself has been here since the sixties when it traded as She, a very popular nightclub.

“We’ve actually inherited that word, She. We’ve taken that brand and we now use it all over the country for our pop-up events business. She: Sugar Hut Events.”

Sugar Hut has previously expressed interest in launching further sites across the UK as part of its national growth plan. Newcastle and Cardiff Bay, I understood, were singled out as promising contenders.

I asked the CEO if the company plans to launch in any other cities.

“We’re very close to opening up again. Something’s jumped in front of the Newcastle and Cardiff projects.

“Our next venue is almost certainly going to be in Scotland. The deal is very close to being done.”

Would all the group’s new sites be Sugar Hut venues – or was his team looking at establishing new concepts?

the core focus is to concentrate on what we have a passion for and do well

“Not really. Outside the wider Sugar Hut operation, we’re very keen to do external things under the She brand. We’re very close to launching a festival and close to doing pop-up events at racecourses, along with various other large public events.

“So that’s probably the next step. But the core focus is to concentrate on what we have a passion for and do well, which is creating one-stop entertainment venues that are open seven days, seven nights a week, open for all.”

Over the next five years, Terry wants to continue strengthening the group’s position as a nationally recognised leisure operator.

He said: “We’d love to open new venues, as we’ve already mentioned. But I don’t believe we’ll open more than four or five of our own. Already we’re very close to offering licenses to other people for us to work with as brand partners. That’s what we’ve got on the cards.”