City Pub Group acquires two more pubs: The City Pub Group, the owner and operator of 52 pubs across southern England and Wales, has completed the acquisition of two more pubs, in London’s Soho and in Oxford. The group said it has acquired a “premium freehold investment” which is currently operated as Simmons Bateman Street. The pub is in the heart of Soho and currently generates approximately circa £260,000 per annum in rent. The next rent review is in October 2027, and the rent is subject to an RPI increase subject to a cap and collar. The lease has 16 years remaining, and the group has acquired the freehold for a cash consideration of circa £3.875m from Consolidated St. Giles LLP. It has also acquired The Plough in Oxford, a leasehold pub located on the Cornmarket in the centre of the city. One of Oxford’s oldest pubs, it has 150 internal covers and 70 to 80 external covers. The group has acquired the leasehold interest (nine years unexpired) for a cash consideration of circa £330,000 from 1855 Cornmarket. The annual net turnover of the pub in 2022 was approximately £1.45m, with estimated pub Ebitda of £350,000. The group intends to “reposition the offer after a modest refurbishment, while ensuring it maintains the pub's unique heritage”. Clive Watson, executive chairman of City Pub Group, said: “We are delighted to secure the acquisition of these two pubs, both of which are in locations where we have existing pubs nearby. Soho is a fantastic trading locale with high footfall from tourists, theatre goers and residents alike, and we're confident the acquisition will be a good long-term investment. The Plough is in the heart of Oxford, traded extremely well last year and we have exciting plans to reposition it to further maximise its potential. The group will continue to look at further acquisitions which are located in areas where we already have a presence. As stated in our recent results statement, we are looking at similar acquisitions to complement our premium pub portfolio as well as continued focus on organic sales growth.” Watson told Propel last month that the business is “in a really strong position for whatever is in front of us next year” as it focuses on “measured growth”. It came as the business reported that its trading continues to be strong, with like-for-like sales up 14% in the 26 weeks to 25 June 2023. AG&G acted on the Soho deal.
City Pub Group features in the Propel Turnover & Profits Blue Book. Its turnover of £35,364,000 for the year ending 26 December 2021 is the 215th highest in the database. The Blue Book ranks companies by turnover, profit and profit conversion, listing directors’ earnings for the past five years. Companies can now have an unlimited number of people receive access to Propel Premium for a year for £995 plus VAT – whether they are an operator or a supplier. The single subscription rate is £495 plus VAT for operators and £595 plus VAT for suppliers. Email jo.charity@propelinfo.com to upgrade your subscription.
Premium subscribers to receive new edition of New Openings Database on Friday featuring 894 site openings: Premium subscribers will receive the new edition of the New Openings Database on Friday (6 October), at midday. The database will show the details of 894 site openings, including which company has opened a site or its plans to open one in the future. It will have details on what type of site it is and its location, and there will also be a website link to the businesses. The database is published on a monthly basis and Premium subscribers will also receive a 44,000-word report on the new additions to the database. Premium subscribers also receive access to five other databases: the
Propel Multi-Site Database, produced in association with Virgate; the
Propel Turnover & Profits Blue Book; the
UK Food and Beverage Franchisor Database; the
Who’s Who of UK Food and Beverage; and the
UK Food and Beverage Franchisee Database. Companies can now have an unlimited number of people receive access to Propel Premium for a year for £995 plus VAT – whether they are an operator or a supplier. The single subscription rate is £495 plus VAT for operators and £595 plus VAT for suppliers.
Email jo.charity@propelinfo.com to upgrade your subscription. Premium subscribers are also being given exclusive access to the recording and slides to Propel Multi-Club Conferences. They also receive their morning newsletter 11 hours early, at 7pm the evening before; regular video content and regular exclusive columns from Propel group editor Mark Wingett.
National living wage set to rise to more than £11 an hour from next April: Chancellor Jeremy Hunt will use his keynote speech to the Conservative Party conference in Manchester to announce that the national living wage will rise to more than £11 an hour next April, benefiting two million low-paid workers. The Government had already set a target for the national living wage to reach two-thirds of median hourly pay by October next year, reports The Daily Mail. The Low Pay Commission estimates the rate required to meet that target should be between £10.90 and £11.43, with a central estimate of £11.16 – equal to a rise of 7.1%. “At the moment it is £10.42 an hour and we are waiting for the Low Pay Commission to confirm its recommendation for next year,” Hunt will say. “But I confirm today, whatever that recommendation, we will increase it next year to at least £11 an hour.” For a full-time worker, the pay rise will be worth more than £1,000 a year. The national living wage was announced by George Osborne in 2016 as an enhancement to the minimum wage. Details of a benefits crackdown are also still being hammered out by ministers and will be unveiled in the Chancellor's autumn statement next month. A Tory source said the move would be targeted at up to 100,000 benefit claimants who refuse to look for work or take a job. “There are still 90-100,000 people who are completely disengaged with the system,” the source said. Mr Hunt will also warn that things have gone in the “wrong direction” since the pandemic when it comes to people out of work, with 100,000 a year leaving the workforce “for a life on benefits”.
Business rates rise ‘will add £1.5bn to bills’: Businesses will pay an extra £1.56bn in property bills from next year unless the chancellor freezes business rates again, a real estate firm has warned. Last autumn, Jeremy Hunt announced a support package worth £13.6bn to help businesses still recovering from the pandemic. This included freezing business rates, which usually increase annually, as well as increasing the discount for retail, hospitality and leisure businesses from 50% to 75% for 12 months, capped at £110,000 per company. Business rates are due to increase again next April under the government’s “multiplier”, which is pegged to inflation in September as measured by the consumer price index (CPI), reports The Times. Based on estimates that CPI will be about 6% for September, from 6.7% in August, analysis by Colliers International forecasts that business rates bills will rise from £26bn in 2023-24 to £27.56bn in 2024-25. John Webber, head of business rates at Colliers International, said such rises would be unsustainable. “All sectors are suffering from increased costs, whether from increased wage bills, materials or fuel,” he said. “They cannot cope with the hike in rates bills too.” Webber believes that the present system, which yields about £25bn per year for local authority funding, “is unsustainable in current form”. A Treasury spokesman said: “The multiplier has been frozen for three consecutive years at an overall cost of £14.5bn. We have also provided 75% relief for retail, hospitality and leisure properties, a tax cut worth over £2bn for around 230,000 businesses. All taxes are kept under review.”
Brakspear appoints new operations manager for Honeycomb Houses division: Pub operator Brakspear has appointed Marc Rawling as operations manager for its ten-strong managed pubs division, Honeycomb Houses. Rawling will be overseeing four Honeycomb Houses pubs: The Nag’s Head in Abingdon, The Lion in Bicester, The Chequers in Marlow and The Bull on Bell Street in Henley-on-Thames (Brakspear’s first managed pub, located next to its head office). Rawling joins from Fuller Smith & Turner, where he worked for 19 years, progressing from general manager of The Vintry in the city of London to operations manager. Prior to Fuller’s, Rawling worked at Ask and Pitcher & Piano. He said: “I’ve been impressed by the way Brakspear has developed the Honeycomb Houses group: each pub has its individual character, but there’s a clear, overarching ethos of ‘our house, your home’ across the estate. We have some of the best pubs in the region, run by some of the most talented GMs and teams. We’re about to go into a busy time, launching new menus later this month and gearing up for Christmas, so my immediate priority will be to support our pubs to deliver an exceptional festive season.” Brakspear chief executive Tom Davies added: “Marc’s experience and skills will be an enormous asset for our pub and head office teams. Fuller’s is a company we’ve always admired; in fact, I started my own pub career with them. So, we know that Marc joins us with an approach and values that are similar to ours, particularly around developing a people culture. We’re confident that Marc will quickly make a positive difference to Honeycomb Houses.” Earlier this summer, Brakspear appointed its first head of people, Simone Brown, who is working on all aspects of team member attraction, engagement, retention and development, including a new career pathway, launching soon. Honeycomb Houses held its first ever Team Day last month, attended by team members from across the division, recognising achievements by five individuals. It also named the Nag’s Head in Abingdon its ‘Pub of the Year’ and gave £21,000 in reward points to be shared between every team member with more than one year’s service.
