Simon Dodd, Young’s chief executive, has told Propel that the group’s 288-strong estate is now well-balanced, and as the City gets a bit queiter, the suburbs start to pick up. Earlier this year, the business acquired the 55-strong City Pub Group for £162m, alongside a further eight acquisitions.

Dodd said: “The City gets a bit quieter, but the suburbs start to pick up. We’re picking up around half a per cent like-for-like each week at the moment, on a year-to-date basis. I think if you look at our estate now, Thursday is the big day in the City, and then Friday is our second biggest day of the trading week because consumers are not in the City – they’re in Surrey, they’re in Berkshire, they’re in Richmond. I think our estate is now quite well balanced – it’s not all dependent on that City regular drinker being out on Thursdays.”

Dodd said rather than the company focusing its acquisitions in line with this change, and therefore looking more regionally, its strategy has been more around the availability of sites. He said: “I would buy sites in London every day of the week if I could. I joined in 2019, and since then we have only bought three pubs in London, not through want of trying. Now, with City, we’ve added 20 pubs in London. That’s worth its weight in gold.” Dodd said The Tattenham Corner in Epsom Downs, acquired last November from Whitbread, will turn out to be “our biggest taking pub outside of London” – especially with a number of rooms set to be added.

He said: “There’s also the four Marston’s pubs we bought, which have been wonderful. The Huntsman in the New Forest is now turning over £40,000 to £45,000 a week.” Dodd said the business will not exclude acquiring pubs without rooms, or the ability to have them, but admits there has been resurgence in the pub space around accommodation, whichYoung’s wants to tap into that “as much as possible”. 

The business has also appointed Ian Dyson, formerly chief executive of Punch Taverns, as a new non-executive director. Dyson is currently chairman of Currys and a non-executive director of JD Sports Fashion.

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Leeds brewer and retailer North Brewing Co has opened its ninth North Bar. The new site is located in the heart of Leeds’ newest city centre green space – Aire Park in Sheaf Street.

The new site features coffee from North Star Coffee Roasters, pastries from Laynes Espresso and natural wines from Wayward Wines. The company’s latest street food brand, Tacos y Màs, will also serve fresh tacos during the week and Mexican breakfast on weekends.

Earlier this year, the future of North Brewing Co was secured following a sale of the business out of administration to Steve Holt, founder of fellow Leeds brewer Kirkstall Brewery.

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JD Wetherspoon is set to cut the prices of all food and drinks this month as part of ‘Tax Equity Day’. Food and drink prices at Wetherspoon pubs across the UK will be cut by 7.5% for one day only this month to “highlight the benefit of a permanent VAT reduction in the hospitality industry”.

Wetherspoon’s founder and chairman, Sir Tim Martin, said: “The biggest threat to the hospitality industry is the vast disparity in tax treatment among pubs, restaurants and supermarkets. Supermarkets pay zero VAT in respect of food sales, whereas pubs, bars and restaurants pay 20%. This tax benefit allows supermarkets to subsidise the selling price of beer.

“Pubs have been under fantastic pressure for decades, because of the tax disadvantages which they have with supermarkets. It doesn’t make sense for the hospitality industry to subsidise supermarkets. A VAT cut to 12.5% is needed to ensure that pubs, bars and restaurants do not continue to close, but instead thrive, invest and create new jobs. We call on the chancellor to create tax equality between the hospitality industry and supermarkets.”

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Manchester brewer and retailer JW Lees has acquired The Craigside Hotel in Little Orme in Llandudno, North Wales, from Whitbread for an undisclosed sum.

William Lees-Jones, managing director of JW Lees, said: “We are delighted to be acquiring The Craigside Inn from Whitbread, and it will take our Inns & Hotels business up to 366 bedrooms under company management.

“We have a number of successful sites in the Llandudno area including The Groes Inn Conwy, Wales’s oldest pub, and The Links Hotel and Station Hotel Llandudno, and we look forward to welcoming the team and guests at The Craigside to being part of the JW Lees family business. We will continue to run the hotel for the foreseeable future and have exciting plans to refurbish and reposition it early in the new year.”

Last month, JW Lees reported a record year with revenues up 9% to £96.8m for the 12 months to 31 March 2024, and pre-tax profit up 104% to £7.1m. The company, which operates 47 managed pubs, inns and hotels, and 87 tenanted and leased pubs, said that pre-tax profit in the previous year was down by 56% to £3.5m owing to a number of reasons including the cost of energy, significantly reduced government support and increased levels of investment in the business. Christie & Co acted on the Craigside Hotel deal.

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South west brewer and pub company St Austell Brewery has acquired The Bell at Broadway pub in the village of Broadway, near Ilminster.

The recently refurbished 17th century inn has a bar, restaurant, wood-fired pizza oven, beer garden and six en-suite guest bedrooms.

It will join St Austell Brewery’s estate of 122 leased and tenanted pubs located across the west country, sitting alongside its 44 managed pubs. The pub is being sold by local businessman Robert Doak.

St Austell chief executive Kevin Georgel said: “It is a fantastic pub at the heart of its community with an excellent reputation and loyal following – a perfect match for us. We are now searching for the ideal business partner to run The Bell and will be working with Robert to ensure a smooth handover for the team and customers.”

Doak, who has owned The Bell for seven years, added: “It was a difficult decision to let the pub go, but I am excited for its future, safe in the knowledge that St Austell Brewery recognises all that has been done to develop the reputation of the pub. Having had a close working relationship with St Austell since we opened, they were the only people we felt comfortable selling to, despite numerous advances over time.”

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