Tue 10th Feb 2015 - Batemans recruits retail director in managed pub expansion Batemans recruits retail director in managed pub expansion: Batemans, the family brewer based in Lincolnshire, has recruited Linda Green as its new retail director. Her appointment comes as Batemans makes acquisitions a major priority for the business, with the aim of expanding its managed pubs estate, in particular. Batemans is looking to evolve its estate to be split equally between tenanted, managed and franchised operations, with a particular focus on sites that include a strong food, or accommodation offering, alongside cask ale, and have the capability to turn over between £8,000 and £12,000 a week. South Yorkshire, East Midlands, North Cambridgeshire and Norfolk have been identified as the favoured locations for new Batemans sites. Green will be targeted with increasing the number of managed houses in the Batemans estate to 15 in three years, and then to 20 after five years. She joined Batemans this month with a main board position, and has over 20 years of executive level experience. In the pub and bar sector, she worked for Scottish & Newcastle for more than ten years, helping to set up the food division with brands including Chef and Brewer and John Barras. Stuart Bateman, managing director of Batemans, said: “Linda’s appointment marks the start of an exciting time for Batemans as we look to dramatically increase our retail estate. This is a new role for us, and we believe Linda will prove invaluable in helping us to achieve our acquisition targets.” Batemans has been gathering an acquisitions war-chest by selling non-viable pubs and seeking planning consents for development of parcels of land that are no longer needed at some of its pubs. The company made a start in building its manage estate last December by buying its first pub in the East Riding of Yorkshire, the Game Bird, in Holme Church Lane, Beverley. The pub, originally a Marston’s outlet called the Grovehill, was put up for sale through Colliers in March 2013 at an asking price of £425,000 and refurbished and reopened as the Game Bird gastropub by its new owners. In September 2014 it closed suddenly, and a planning application was submitted to East Riding council by Barrington Capital Investments to demolish the gastro pub and build eight houses on the site. On acquisition, Stuart Bateman, revealed the company had been trying to acquire the pub since the summer. He said: “It has been a long, drawn out process. Beverley is an area we have always wanted to get into. When our beers are sold as guest beers in Beverley, they sell extremely well. The pub is in the kind of community area where we like to have pubs. We will be reopening it as a hub-of-the-community pub with cracking accommodation.”