13/08/2024 09:54:00
A collection of seven pubs in Warwickshire has been bought for £22.5m by the pubs and hotels business Fuller's, says Pub and Bar. Lovely Pubs, led by founder Paul Salisbury, has been built over the past three decades and is made up of six freeholds and one lease. It is reported that the Lovely Pubs venues will continue to operate as they are, with the founders continuing to work with Fuller's and all 260 team members retained with the acquisition. The sites are The Orange Tree in Chadwick End, The Boot Inn at Lapworth, The Farm in Monkspath, Morton's Kitchen in Dickens Heath, The Baraset Barn in Alveston, The Moat House Inn at Kings Coughton, and The Queen's Head in Stoke Pound.
Revolution Bars Group's restructuring plan has been given the green light by shareholders, reports the Morning Advertiser. The move will allow the group, which trades mainly under the Revolution, Revolución de Cuba and Peach Pub brands, to restructure certain of its liabilities. This includes amending and extending the group's secured lending facilities, exiting leases of certain loss-making sites, and implementing necessary rent reductions on certain other sites to enable them to return to profitability at a sustainable level. The board expects the plan to deliver a significant annualised EBITDA improvement of c£3.8m. The objective of the restructure is to provide financial stability to recover from the trading challenges to the late-night bars market following Covid and will "secure the long-term future of the group and delivers the best outcome for all stakeholders."
Heartwood Collection has acquired The Woodman, Palmers Green from Marstons. The acquisition will see the pub undergo an extensive multi-million-pound refurbishment to create 150 internal covers with a further 60 external covers, reports Hospitality and Catering News. Originally two adjoining cottages built in 1727, the pub first started serving guests under the watchful eye of retired police officer Henry Wale in 1868 and is reputed to have one of the smallest bars in England. The acquisition of The Woodman, expected to open Summer 2025, joins Heartwood's acquisitions of The Royal Forest, Epping Forest and The Prince of Wales, East Barnet in North East London and continues Heartwood's ambitious plan to grow to over 60 sites with a turnover of £133 million by 2027 and joins four sites already confirmed by Heartwood to open in 2025.
Indian restaurant group Kricket has acquired a site in Shoreditch for the opening of its fifth restaurant. The new restaurant has taken on the former Apothecary East site on Charlotte Road and will follow hot on the heels of Kricket's fourth restaurant, which has opened this month in Canary Wharf and marked the group's first new restaurant opening since 2018. The Shoreditch site, which was once home to Merchant's Tavern, Angela Hartnett's French, Spanish and Italian restaurant, presents a new opportunity for the modern Indian restaurant group, which intends to run it as an all-day venue for the first time, including serving breakfast says Restaurant Online.
RedCat has successfully completed a £61m refinancing of its current debt facilities, after securing funding from Barclays Bank and existing investors, reports The Caterer. The pub group, headed by former Greene King chief executive Rooney Anand, appointed administrators to its RedCat Leased Pubs division - a subsidiary of 10 leasehold pubs - in March. It also reported it has put 14 sites within its managed division up for sale. It currently has 102 sites within the group. The business announced a £61m deal, comprising of debt funding from Barclays Bank and further equity from the group's existing investors, including funds managed by Oaktree Capital Management. The business said the deal demonstrated a "vote of confidence" in its strategy, team and future success.
The owner of private members' clubs Soho House has seen its losses grow to more than £25 million over the past few months, despite amassing an all-time high waitlist of about 111,000 people vying for a membership, reports the Evening Standard. The company said it had about 204,000 members of Soho House at the end of June, 16% more than a year ago, and generated 104 million US dollars (£82 million) in membership revenues. It was reported its net losses grew to nearly 34 million US dollars (£27 million) in the three months to the end of June, significantly higher than the 2.6 million dollar (£2 million) loss reported the same time last year. Soho House & Co said this was driven primarily by higher losses from foreign exchange effects. On an adjusted basis, which strips out one-off costs it believes do not reflect business performance, earnings grew to about 33 million US dollars (£26 million) for the quarter.
The Norfolk Mead hotel in Coltishall has opened the UK's first 'beer spa' following £3.5m investment, reports Boutique Hotelier. Purported benefits of the beer treatment include helping to remove toxins from the body while increasing blood circulation...