Distinctive Inns Limited

What Distinctive Inns Limited does

Distinctive Inns Limited is a privately-held UK gastro pub company operating six all-day dining venues across the East Midlands, including The Riverside (Farndon), The Nuthall, The Priory (Loughborough), The Dorset (West Bridgford), The Risley Park (Derby), and The Carnarvon (Teversal). Founded in 2010 and headquartered at The Nuthall in Nottingham, the company serves local residents and visitors with breakfast, lunch, and dinner seven days a week, alongside seasonal menus, draught beers, cocktails, and a kids' offering. Venue capacity and function space at The Park Rooms (within The Risley Park) are used to host weddings, corporate events, birthday parties, and live entertainment including tribute acts and comedy nights.

The underlying technology stack is a multi-vendor digital layer rather than proprietary software: the Distinctive Rewards mobile app (iOS and Android) handles loyalty point accrual and cashless payments, Square provides PCI-DSS Level 1 certified payment processing, DesignMyNight powers online table reservations across all venues, Eventbrite ticketing supports live events, and PepperHQ acts as data processor for the app. The Distinctive Rewards programme accrues 1 point per £1 spent and converts balances into cash for part or full payment, with geolocation check-in features replacing the legacy physical loyalty card.

Revenue is generated transactionally across three streams: food and beverage sales across the six venues, events and function hire (notably weddings at The Park Rooms, which can host up to 120 standing or 80 seated guests), and the loyalty programme, which drives repeat visit frequency rather than representing an independent revenue line. Pricing is pay-as-you-go, varies by venue, and is not publicly disclosed. Customers are primarily general consumers and families, with a secondary segment of mid-market corporate and private event bookers. No external institutional investment, parent company, or public listing is evident.

Name

Distinctive Inns Limited

Legal name

Distinctive Inns Ltd

Website

https://distinctiveinns.co.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

2010

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Distinctive Inns Limited operates six all-day gastro pub venues across the East Midlands, serving families and local diners with seasonal British food, alongside weddings, corporate events, and live entertainment at The Risley Park's Park Rooms, supported by a Square-powered loyalty app.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Gastro Pub Hospitality

NAICS

Full-Service Restaurants (722511)

SIC

Retail-Eating & Drinking Places (5810), Retail-Eating Places (5812)

akta.pro primary industry

Special Occasion & Destination Restaurants (THAFACAK)

Keywords

• Gastro pub operations
• Hospitality services
• Restaurant dining
• Event venues
• Wedding venues

Headquarters

HQ city

Nottingham

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices7 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Supply Chain, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Food and Beverage Sales: Revenue from serving breakfast, lunch and dinner across all six pub locations. Menus include all-day dining, breakfast, puddings, fixed price menus, kids menus, buffets, and cocktails.
2. Events and Functions: Revenue from hosting private events including weddings, corporate events, birthday parties, christenings, and wakes in dedicated function spaces such as The Park Rooms at Risley Park.
3. Loyalty Programme: Points-based loyalty scheme where customers earn 1 point per £1 spent, convertible to cash for part or full payment. Additional bonus point promotions drive repeat visits.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Distinctive Inns Limited operates six gastro pub venues across the Nottingham, Derby, Loughborough, and Newark areas, serving breakfast, lunch and dinner seven days a week with menus emphasising seasonal British produce, draught beers, cocktails, and wines. The company also runs the Park Rooms function venue at The Risley Park for weddings and corporate events, a live entertainment programme, and the Distinctive Rewards loyalty scheme operated through a mobile app.

Product overview

Distinctive Inns Limited operates a portfolio of six gastro pub venues across Nottingham, Derby, Loughborough, and Newark areas: The Carnarvon (Teversal), The Dorset (West Bridgford), The Nuthall (Nottingham), The Priory (Nanpantan/Loughborough), The Risley Park (Derby), and The Riverside (Farndon/Newark) — the company's first outlet opened in 2010. The hospitality offering is complemented by the Distinctive Rewards loyalty program, which includes a mobile app for point collection and cashless payments, as well as event services at The Risley Park featuring The Park Rooms function venue (weddings, corporate events) and a live events programme with tribute acts. All venues serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner daily, with menus that emphasise seasonal British produce, draught beers, cocktails, and wines.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Distinctive Rewards: Loyalty scheme that allows customers to collect points for every £1 spent and convert them into cash for food and drink purchases across all Distinctive Inns outlets.
• Distinctive Rewards App
• The Park Rooms

Products and services

• The Carnarvon (gastro pub venue) A contemporary gastro pub restaurant in Teversal, Nottinghamshire, serving freshly prepared daily menus, draught beers, cocktails, and an extensive wine list in a stylish setting with free WiFi; open 9am–11pm (9am–10:30pm Sundays) with food service 9am–9pm.
• The Dorset (gastro pub venue) A stylish gastro pub in West Bridgford offering a wide-ranging all-day menu from 9am, with cold beers, wines, cocktails, indoor seating, and an al fresco patio.

Quantifiable outcome

• Collect 1 point per £1 spent
• +2 more outcomes

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration4 records

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• SquarecoreTechnology or IntegrationSquare operates as the payment gateway partner for the Distinctive Inns mobile app, providing Level 1 PCI-DSS certified payment processing for in-app purchases.
• Forge RoastersminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerForge Roasters in Sheffield supplies specialty coffee beans for barista-style coffee served at The Dorset pub.
• EventbriteminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorEventbrite serves as the ticketing platform for live events and entertainment at The Risley Park, including tribute acts and themed evenings.
• DesignMyNightminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorDesignMyNight provides the table booking reservation system widget integrated into the Distinctive Inns website for all six pub locations.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• City Pub Group: AIM-listed UK regional pub operator focused on wet-led and food-led community pubs. Comparable multi-site regional pub model with similar mid-market dining and event offerings to Distinctive Inns.
• Loungers plc: Listed UK operator of casual dining and bar formats across regional towns. Targets similar demographic with food-led all-day menus in a relaxed setting, providing a comparable growth-by-multi-site playbook.
• Brunning & Price: Mid-market UK gastropub group operating dozens of similar pubs focused on quality food, drink, and a relaxed atmosphere. Closely comparable venue format, menu philosophy, and target customer to Distinctive Inns.
• Peach Pubs: UK independent gastro pub operator running a portfolio of similar-quality pubs in the Midlands and South. Directly comparable mid-market casual dining and drinks concept with comparable venue size and pricing.

Broad incumbents

• Greene King: UK pub and brewing major with thousands of managed and tenanted pubs. Operates food-led formats that compete directly with Distinctive Inns in regional locations, though at very different scale.
• Mitchells & Butlers: FTSE-listed UK operator of restaurants and pubs under multiple brands (e.g., Ember Inns, Toby Carvery). Overlaps with Distinctive Inns in the casual food-led mid-market segment.
• Fuller, Smith & Turner: Historic London-listed brewer and pub operator with a portfolio of food-led pubs. Comparable food-and-drink-led venue format, though at significantly larger scale and broader geographic reach.
• Young's Pubs: Established London and South-East pub operator with a strong focus on food-led pubs and bars. Larger scale overlap with Distinctive Inns' gastro pub operating model, though with broader geographic footprint.

Emerging players

• Honest Burgers: Independent UK casual dining group with a regional multi-site footprint and quality food positioning. Comparable standalone mid-market dining brand expanding regionally, with similar target customer base.

Regional players

• Hall & Woodhouse: Family-owned Dorset-based brewer and pub operator with a portfolio of food-led pubs in the South and South-West. Comparable gastro pub operating model and target customer demographic, though in a different UK region.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/DistinctiveInns
• Facebookfacebook.com/DistinctiveInns
• Instagraminstagram.com/distinctive_inns
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/distinctive-inns-limited

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Distinctive Inns Limited