New World Champion given the backing of Champagne Bar owners Searcys. 13 September 2011

On the back of celebrating his World title in Degau, Dai Greene has joined up with Champagne Bar owners Searcys, on his exciting journey aiming to add to his collection of European, Commonwealth and World titles.

The Welsh 400m hurdler will be supporting high profile events with upmarket caterer Searcys throughout the build up to the 2012 Olympic Games.

Searcys, which was established in 1847, operates catering and champagne bars in some of London’s most iconic locations, including the Gherkin, the Commonwealth Club, St Pancras station along with Westfield’s stunning new Stratford City Shopping Centre.

The ‘Olympic effect’ has seen Searcys predict up to 300 per cent sales growth in venues such as St Pancras Grand, with Eurostar services arriving at the station and passengers then boarding the specially commissioned ‘Olympic Javelin’ to Stratford.

With the Gherkin, which has stunning views across the entire Olympic development, also being overwhelmed with enquiries for private hire functions during the games, the sales impact could be as much as £4 million – equating to a cork popping additional 300,000 glasses of champagne.

In order to celebrate that success, and use their great locations to raise awareness of Olympic hopefuls and support their preparation, Searcys took the decision to join forces with Dai Greene in his quest for gold.

Searcys managing director Doug Tetley invited Greene’s track mentor and former Olympic silver medallist Jamie Baulch to announce the partnership.

Doug said: “Searcys has proved to be fantastically positioned for London 2012, and in many ways the messages for the game are very reflective of our business – it is about taking something traditional and moving it forward to be the best it possibly can be.

“Our flagship venues have proved to be real magnets for people looking to enjoy the event, and our business as a whole benefits when there is a feel good factor around – which London 2012 will certainly bring.

“Our champagne bar opens at Westfield tomorrow (September 13th) so will experience its first summer of trading in the amazing atmosphere of an Olympic village, and we are expecting that to provide a phenomenal platform for its future success.

“Everyone at Searcys wanted to try use that to aid British success, and we feel Dai is the perfect ambassador for his sport.

“It was fantastic to see Dai win Gold at the recent World Championships and we are looking forward to getting to know him on his special journey to a home Olympic Games in London.”

That sentiment was echoed by Greene who believes that there are some great synergies between him and his new sponsor.

He said: “I live in Bath, where Searcys operate the Pump Rooms venue and I know they are looking to do an event there at some stage during the preparation which will be great for me.

“The Olympics is of paramount important to Searcys as a business but it is great to see that they are using some of that success to build links with the athletes – I am delighted that have chosen to work with me.

“London 2012 will hopefully leave a lot of legacies and launching this partnership at a building like the Gherkin overlooking all of the great venues that will be absolutely buzzing next summer is amazing.

“I can already imagine people sitting here watching the fireworks at the end of the closing ceremony – hopefully they will be raising a glass to celebrate a lot of British success.”