Leisure Sector Dinner

Inflexion hosted a dinner focused on some of the challenges and opportunities in the UK leisure sector. Martin Robinson, Chairman of Casual Dining Group and Inspiring Learning, and former Chairman and CEO of Center Parcs, led a discussion highlighting some of the pressing issues in the minds of senior management and boards in the sector. These included threats from cyber attacks, which are becoming ever more an issue for many consumer facing firms, as well as global terrorism, which can impact consumer demand.

Guests, which comprised Chief Executives and Chairmen in leading restaurant, bars, travel and other leisure businesses, also looked at some of the changes being driven in many leisure sector business models by the growing use of technology, whether that was in the booking end of businesses or in changing patterns of behaviour at all ends of the consumer age spectrum.

The session was led by John Harper, partner at Inflexion. John is responsible for originating and executing transactions across a wide range of sectors, with a focus on consumer deals. During his career at Montagu, Duke Street and LDC, John has been involved with numerous investments and exits in the sector including Scott Dunn, Anite Travel, Wagamama, Simple Skincare and Megabowl.