Independent pub company, Indigo, strive to capture the spirit of the city-by-the sea in the creative design of its traditional pubs. Indigo solely focus on the Brighton & Hove area offering a range of Sussex-brewed cask ales, freshly-cooked food and a great atmosphere. Alfresco Heaters have been working with the company since 2013 and are delighted to provide a range of heaters that help to create a great Brighton Pub experience.

Jon Wilson and Chris Bloomfield directors of Indigo leisure started the company in 1999 with the leasehold of 2 local Brighton bars. This has now expanded to 20 bars either fully owned or leased premises. As part of their long term strategy Indigo wanted to systematically renovate the pubs that needed to be freshened up to provide patrons with an environment to enjoy a drink, some great food and to have a good time.

John Purchese, franchise holder of the Hobgoblin bar in Brighton contacted Alfresco Heaters in late 2013, as he’d been looking at various heaters online. Purchese was drawn to the large, powerful element heaters that Alfresco provide as he wanted to create ‘the best beer garden in Brighton’ and needed heaters with some serious “grunt” as he put it. John advised

“we had spent over £600k in renovations on the Hobgoblin and wanted to upgrade the garden bar as it was a huge area that was greatly underutilised. Along with employing a landscape gardener to install cubicles along the edge of the garden and a large awning, the last piece of the puzzle was to find heaters to keep customers warm. We had previously used smaller heaters that weren’t providing any warmth and needed to upgrade.”

 

Alfresco Heaters installed 13 heaters in total ranging from 156cm 3kW to dual element 156cm 6kW models. There were 4 heaters installed under the awning, 7 in cubicles and another 2 to heat a seated area with table and chairs. John added

“with Alfresco Heaters, this has totally transformed the outdoor area as we’ve now created a warm environment for our customers in the cooler months of the year that has hugely increased the time spent by patrons in the Garden bar and now we actually get asked to take bookings for certain parts of the garden bar!”

 

After the successful installation at the Hobgoblin, Indigo wanted to use Alfresco Heaters at a few more sites. Next was the Good Companions bar that had 2 awnings out the front of the pub that needed heating. Alfresco Heaters installed 4 x 3kw heaters and as they were quite low mounted heaters we manufactured custom made covers that provided greater safety to customers.

 Next was the Hare & Hounds that has undergone a completely new refit. Again, a garden bar needed heating and Alfresco Heaters provided 12 heaters in total. We introduced our smaller 2.5kW heater for 8 small cubicles and another 4 3kW 156 heater for larger seating areas at either end of the garden. All the heaters that were installed featured timers to reduce running costs and to only work when needed.

As Alfresco Heaters use medium wave technology and not short wave our heaters are fully compatible with motion sensors/timers and won’t burn out unlike competitors heaters when they are constantly turned on/off due to our inbuilt soft start mechanism.

Alfresco Heaters then outfitted the newly renovated Prince George with another 4 heaters and are in the process of supplying the Temple bar also with another 2 outdoor heaters for their small smoking area to the rear of the pub.