Most new venues don't fail because of the idea. They fail on the premises, the licence, the build or the cash.

Launch Your Venue is the step-by-step playbook for opening a salon, café or bar in the UK. It follows a 26-week plan from idea to opening night, takes every decision in the order you'll face it, and gives you the real numbers, the real rules and the checklists to get it right first time.

Inside:
• The 15 most expensive mistakes new venue owners make, and how to avoid every one
• Startup costings for six venue formats, worked monthly profit figures for a salon, café and bar, and what happens when sales come in 20% low
• Commercial premises: the options and their risks, security of tenure, personal guarantees, dilapidations, break clauses, and 18 terms to push back on
• Licensing: premises and personal licences, temporary event notices, food registration, special treatment licences, pavement licences and Martyn's Law
• Planning, building control and fit-out, including how to manage contractors or run the build yourself
• Hiring, pay, tips, pensions and the 2026 employment law changes
• What to do when things go wrong: rent arrears, licence reviews, a contractor walking off, or a cash crisis
• A 26-week master timeline, 30 questions to ask the agent, 20 questions for your solicitor, and 12 ready-to-use templates and checklists

Whether you're opening a nail or beauty salon, barbershop, café, cocktail bar, restaurant or hybrid venue, or adding a second site, this book shows you what it really costs, what can go wrong and what to do next. Covers England and Wales.

About the author: Denry Okpor designed, built and ran three Sips Nail Spa & Bar venues in Stratford, Mayfair and Croydon, doing much of the construction work himself.