Launch Your Venue Sets Out the Costliest Mistakes New Salon, Café and Bar Owners Make, and How to Avoid Them
A practical, checklist-led guide for first-time operators in England and Wales, from the founder of Sips Nail Spa & Bar
LONDON — 5 November 2026 — New venue owners rarely lose money on one big error. More often it's a series of small, avoidable ones. Launch Your Venue: The Step-by-Step Playbook for Opening a Salon, Café or Bar in the UK, by Denry Okpor, is a guide to spotting those mistakes before they cost money.
The book names the 15 most expensive mistakes new venue owners make and explains how to avoid each one. It gives startup costings for six venue formats, along with worked monthly figures for a salon, a café and a bar, including what happens when sales come in 20% below plan. It also explains the licences an operator may need: premises and personal licences, food registration, special treatment licences and pavement licences, plus Martyn's Law.
"Most new venues don't fail because of the idea," said Okpor, who designed, built and ran the Sips Nail Spa & Bar venues in Stratford, Mayfair and Croydon.
The guide ends with a 26-week master timeline and 12 ready-to-use templates and checklists. Readers can tick off each stage instead of relying on memory. It has been updated for 2026, including the National Living Wage, the new business rates multipliers and the Employment Rights Act 2025.
Launch Your Venue is aimed at people opening a nail or beauty salon, barbershop, café, cocktail bar, restaurant or hybrid venue in England or Wales. It is also for owners planning a second site.
The book is independently published (109 pages; ISBN-13 979-8-1609-6803-2) and available on Amazon UK in paperback and for Kindle.
About Denry Okpor
Denry Okpor is an entrepreneur, author, actor and property investor based in the UK. He has founded and run several businesses, including Sips Nail Spa & Bar, and is the author of Launch Your Venue (2026) and No One Is Coming (2026). He played Uncle K in the 2013 short film Squeeze.
Paperback (Amazon UK): https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0HMLZVXL5
Kindle (Amazon UK): https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0HMLXJ4CF
Books: https://denryokpor.com/books/
Press kit: https://denryokpor.com/press/
Website: https://denryokpor.com
Media contact: [email protected]
The book names the 15 most expensive mistakes new venue owners make and explains how to avoid each one. It gives startup costings for six venue formats, along with worked monthly figures for a salon, a café and a bar, including what happens when sales come in 20% below plan. It also explains the licences an operator may need: premises and personal licences, food registration, special treatment licences and pavement licences, plus Martyn's Law.
"Most new venues don't fail because of the idea," said Okpor, who designed, built and ran the Sips Nail Spa & Bar venues in Stratford, Mayfair and Croydon.
The guide ends with a 26-week master timeline and 12 ready-to-use templates and checklists. Readers can tick off each stage instead of relying on memory. It has been updated for 2026, including the National Living Wage, the new business rates multipliers and the Employment Rights Act 2025.
Launch Your Venue is aimed at people opening a nail or beauty salon, barbershop, café, cocktail bar, restaurant or hybrid venue in England or Wales. It is also for owners planning a second site.
The book is independently published (109 pages; ISBN-13 979-8-1609-6803-2) and available on Amazon UK in paperback and for Kindle.
About Denry Okpor
Denry Okpor is an entrepreneur, author, actor and property investor based in the UK. He has founded and run several businesses, including Sips Nail Spa & Bar, and is the author of Launch Your Venue (2026) and No One Is Coming (2026). He played Uncle K in the 2013 short film Squeeze.
Paperback (Amazon UK): https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0HMLZVXL5
Kindle (Amazon UK): https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0HMLXJ4CF
Books: https://denryokpor.com/books/
Press kit: https://denryokpor.com/press/
Website: https://denryokpor.com
Media contact: [email protected]
- Contact Email
- [email protected]
- Issued By
- Denry Okpor
- Business Address
- 66 Paul Street, London EC2A 4NA
London, United Kingdom - Country
- United Kingdom
- Categories
- Books · Business · Publishing
- Last Updated
- November 11, 2026