|
|
|
Fri 6th Mar 2026 - Update: Various Eateries acquires premium pubs with rooms portfolio for £11.25m to create third brand, proposes name change to Coppa Collective |
|
|
Various Eateries acquires premium pubs with rooms portfolio for £11.25m to create third brand, proposes name change to Coppa Collective: Various Eateries, the Hugh Osmond-backed business that operates the Coppa Club and Noci concepts, has acquired a premium pubs with rooms portfolio for £11.25m to create third brand and proposed a name change to Coppa Collective. It has exchanged on asset purchase agreements to acquire the portfolio from Grosvenor Pubs and expects to complete the acquisition of four sites on or around 23 March 2026, with a further agreement in place to potentially acquire a fifth site. On completion, the acquired sites will form a third operating brand, The Linwood Collection. The sites to be acquired are Wild Thyme & Honey (Cotswolds), The Hare & Hounds (Berkshire), The Stag on the River (Surrey) and The Wellington Arms (Hampshire), while the group has also agreed terms to potentially acquire The Queen’s Head (Surrey) – which is subject to an asset of community value process. Four of the five sites are freehold, with The Wellington Arms held on a long leasehold, and its acquisition remains subject to landlord consent to assign the lease. Various Eateries said: “The board considers these venues to be high-quality, well-invested assets, recognised for their character, design and strong local reputations. Each site benefits from an attractive regional location, established guest appeal and a clear cultural fit with the group’s existing estate. The sites will continue to trade under their current names and identities. The group intends to preserve each venue’s established positioning and what makes them distinctive. The company will issue further announcements at the appropriate time, including in relation to the completion of the acquisition and the outcome of the ACV process. The board believes premium pubs with rooms represent a resilient and attractive model in the current market, combining food and beverage, accommodation and destination-led appeal. The acquisition provides the group with a focused platform in this segment and broadens its opportunity set as it continues to scale, supported by management’s extensive experience in this part of the market. The group expects to enhance the acquired sites through integration into its platform, including group purchasing, central support capabilities and established operating disciplines. The group also expects to take a measured approach to investment, focused on enhancing the guest experience, disciplined capital deployment and commercial optimisation. No new directors are proposed to be appointed to the company in connection with the acquisition.” The cash consideration payable on completion for the four sites is £11.25m, subject to customary completion adjustments. The group expects to fund the acquisition through new debt financing and existing resources. It has secured a £15m debt facility with HSBC, comprising an £8m three-year term facility with a seven-year amortisation profile and a £7m revolving credit facility. This facility is intended to be available at completion and will be used to part-fund the acquisition and support the group’s wider growth and working capital requirements. The group does not intend to undertake an equity raise in connection with the acquisition. The consideration for The Queen’s Head will be agreed and paid on exchange and completion of that acquisition. Based on unaudited management information provided by the seller, the four sites to be acquired on or around 23 March 2026 generated aggregate revenue of approximately £10.5m in the 52 weeks ended 28 December 2025, with site-level Ebitda of approximately £1.5m. Various Eateries said: “The board believes the acquisition has been agreed on attractive terms relative to the quality of the assets and the group’s assessment of the opportunity to enhance performance over time through its operating platform. In light of the group’s evolution into a broader, multi-format hospitality platform, the board intends to change the company’s name to Coppa Collective. The board believes this better reflects the group’s portfolio and long-term direction. The proposed name change will be subject to completion of the relevant legal and regulatory formalities, including registration at Companies House.” Various Eateries chief executive Mark Loughborough said: “Linwood marks an important step in the evolution of the group. We are bringing into the business a small collection of premium pubs with rooms that have earned their reputations the right way, through great hospitality, careful attention to detail and a real sense of place. They are destinations with loyal followings, and our priority is straightforward: protect what people already love about them and build from there. This is also a format we know well and rate highly in the current market. Premium pubs with rooms combine food and drink with accommodation and a broader, destination-led appeal. Done well, that mix can deliver resilience and attractive economics, and we believe these sites have the quality to do exactly that. We believe our operating platform can help them perform even more consistently over time, through the disciplines we have been strengthening across the group, from purchasing and systems to training, standards and day-to-day execution. This acquisition is fully aligned with the approach we set out at our full-year results. We are building momentum, we have a clearer playbook, and we are ready to act when high-quality opportunities arise on the right terms. Alongside Coppa Club and Noci, Linwood broadens the group in a way that fits our culture and our ambition. As Coppa Collective, we will be clearer about the breadth of what we are building, and I am excited to welcome new colleagues and new guests into the group.” Loughborough told Propel last month that the group was open to taking on a third core brand, and that current trading is “encouraging”. The group also last month reported that revenue grew 6% to £52.4m for the year ending 28 September 2025 (2024: £49.5m). Group like-for-like sales growth of 2% (2024: down 1.0%) was led by Coppa Club (up 3%), with second half group like-for-like growth of 4%. The group also posted record adjusted Ebitda of £1.4m (2024: £0.3m).
Premium Club subscribers to receive new searchable and segmented New Openings Database today: The next Propel New Openings Database will be sent to Premium Club subscribers today (Friday, 6 March), at noon. The database will show the details of 141 site openings, including which company has opened a site or its plans to open one in the future. The database 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 monthly, and Premium Club subscribers will also receive a 9,156-word report on the 141 new additions to the database. It is segmented into seven categories – cafe bakery, casual dining, experiential leisure, fine dining, hotels, pubs and bars, and quick service restaurants – making it even easier for users to search. The database includes new openings in the pubs and bars sector such as The Latimer, opening in London, Irish-themed bar concept Katie O’Brien’s, lining up openings in Manchester and Barnsley, and restaurant and wine bar group Forza Wine, opening its new Central London site in Soho. Premium Club subscribers also receive access to five other databases: the Turnover & Profits Blue Book, the Multi-Site Database, the UK Food and Beverage Franchisor Database, the UK Food and Beverage Franchisee Databaseand the Who’s Who of UK Hospitality. All Premium Club subscribers will be offered a 20% discount on tickets to Propel paid-for events and discounts on specialist sector reports. Operators that are Premium Club subscribers are also able to send up to four members of staff to each of our four Multi-Club Conferences for free. Premium Club subscribers receive their daily Propel Info newsletter 11 hours earlier than standard subscribers, at 7pm the evening before. They also receive videos of presentations at eight Propel conference events two weeks after they are held. This represents around 100 videos of industry insight over the course of the year. Premium Club subscribers also receive exclusive opinion columns every Friday at 5pm, which include the thoughts of Propel chief operating officer – editorial, Mark Wingett, and a host of industry leaders from across the sector. A Premium Club subscription costs an annual sum of £495 plus VAT for operators and £595 plus VAT for suppliers. Companies can now have an unlimited number of people receive access to Premium Club for a year for £995 plus VAT – whether they are an operator or supplier. Email kai.kirkman@propelinfo.com today to sign up.
UK jobs market hit by longest run of staff cuts since pandemic: Businesses have embarked on the longest stretch of job cuts since the pandemic, according to Bank of England data, reinforcing concerns that the labour market is under strain from payroll tax increases and steep rises in the minimum wage. On a three-month average basis, businesses have reported to the Bank of England that they laid off staff in each period stretching back to July last year, the longest run of redundancies since the late stages of the pandemic in 2021, reports The Times. The lay-offs broadly coincided with the introduction of the £25bn increase in employer national insurance contributions that took effect last April alongside a 6.7% increase in the minimum wage, which is also due to rise again this spring. The data will reinforce concerns that the labour market has been weakened by government policy over the past year, with the official rate of unemployment up to 5.2% in the latest three months for which data is available, compared with 4.4% in the previous year. Young people have borne the brunt of the downturn, with the jobless rate among those aged 16 to 24 up to an 11-year high of 16.1%. The government has launched a job subsidy scheme for young people in an effort to tackle the problem. On a single-month basis in February, businesses told the Bank of England that there was a 0.7% average reduction in the size of their workforce over the past year, larger than the 0.3% drop in the previous month. Over the coming year, the average business expected to increase its headcount by 0.3% in February, up from 0.2% in January. On average, businesses said that they planned to raise prices by 3.3% in the coming year, down from 3.4%. Family-owned Lancashire hotel group acquires Lake District hotel for £5m, makes a loss, £1.1m profit received from sale of two hotels: Family-owned Lancashire hotel group Paragon Hotels has acquired a Lake District hotel for £5m. It has acquired 100% of the share capital of Codecrest, which owns and operates The Salutation Hotel in Ambleside. It comes after the company made a loss in the year to 27 March 2025. A pre-tax profit of £823,000 in 2024 turned into a loss of £331,000. Its turnover was reduced from £18,605,000 to £15,942,000 following the sale of two hotels in May 2024. A profit of £1,134,000 was realised on the £5.1m sale. In the previous year, the company made a £1,645,000 profit on disposal of assets, from the previous sale of two other hotels. No dividend was paid (2024: nil).
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
