Thu 14th Mar 2013 - Breaking News - Realpubs to hit 22 sites before Pring and Heap leave Greene King set to expand Realpubs to 22 sites before founders Pring and Heap leave: Greene King is set to expand its estate of Realpubs venues to at least 22 sites before founders Nick Pring and Malcolm Heap leave at the end of April at the second year anniversary of the acquisition of the company. Realpubs operated 14 sites when it was bought by Greene King for £53.1m in April 2011. The end of April this year will see the culmination of Pring and Heap’s two-year integration period with the pair set to follow the lead of Cloverleaf founders John Winder and Gary Douglas in standing down. Greene King opened its sixth Realpubs conversion last Thursday night – the Prince of Wales in Hampton Court, which is Realpubs second foray south of the Thames after St Margarets Tavern in St Margarets. The Pheonix in Throgmorton Street re-opened as a Realpubs site last night to make a seventh conversion. One further Greene King pub, The Grove in Ealing, is scheduled for conversion to Realpubs trading format in April to reach a total of eight conversions. The expansion of Realpubs by Greene King since acquisition will mean it will have out-stripped both Loch Fyne and Cloverleaf in terms of site conversion numbers in the two-year post acquisition period. Greene King has also successfully expanded Realpubs’ trading locations with an opening in a Zone One London site last September – The King Stores in Bishopsgate. Other pubs within the Greene King estate converted to Realpubs include The Island Bar and Dining Room in Kensal Rise, a former Capital Pub Company site. Paul Hickman, former City analyst at Peel Hunt, reported last year that The Maynard Arms in Crouch End has seen turnover climb from £14,200 a week to £22,600 a week after a £408,000 investment to turn it to the Realpubs trading style. Meanwhile, The Black Lion in West Hampstead has seen turnover per week almost double from £12,500 to £24,200 after a £322,000 investment to convert it to the Realpubs format. It is not known exactly what Pring and Heap plan to do after their departure from Greene King but industry sources speculate that they want to set up a second business following the example of Clive Watson and David Bruce who sold Capital Pub Company to Greene King.