Thu 21st Jan 2016 - Urban Pubs and Bars buys two Wetherspoon sites Urban Pubs and Bars buys two Wetherspoon sites: Urban Pubs and Bars, led by Nick Pring and Malcolm Heap, who sold Realpubs to Greene King for £53m in 2011, has bought two JD Wetherspoon pubs, part of the group of 20 leasehold sites Wetherspoon put on the market last year. The company has bought the Gatehouse in Camden and The White Lion in Stroud Green. Of the Gatehouse, Pring, said: “We are not going to make a lot of changes to the building. We love its village feel and the wood panelling. The main difference will be the food offer. We’ll be bringing in new chefs and looking at a gastropub offer. The prices will be higher – a Sunday roast will be around the £15 mark – but the quality will improve. It will be a completely different food offer to what Wetherspoon do.” He said the Upstairs At The Gatehouse theatre would continue above the bar, and that the pub would not see a change of name. “I know that some people hear the word gastropub and think, oh, it must be exclusive. But it’s not like that. It’s not going to be poncey. We are pub people and there will be people who will come in and just have a drink, and that’s fine. It will be a little more expensive, but the quality will be there. We’ve got the rent to pay and by bringing in talented chefs we have to pay more.” He said the twin offer of good food and a theatre upstairs would also help the pub become a “destination venue”, adding: “I don’t want to make assumptions but I’m not sure the theatregoers come for the Wetherspoon food. I’m sure they will welcome the chance to have a nice meal downstairs. It won’t be a pub knocking out £2.99 breakfasts.” Of the White Lion, he said: “We’re going to move the bar around to open the pub up and introduce a fresh food offer. It’s an up-and-coming area that we know well – it’s gentrifying quite quickly and is definitely our type of area.” The White Lion, in Stroud Green will change hands on 8 February while Gatehouse changes hands on 22 February and is likely to be closed for up to three weeks while alterations are made inside. Meanwhile, Zizzi has closed its branch next to the Gatehouse pub to be replaced by a new Italian restaurant whose plans for a new roof terrace are being considered by Town Hall planners. The two new sites takes the Urban Pubs and Bars estate to ten sites. At the start of this month, the company secured its eighth pub, The Royal Oak in Harlesden, an Enterprise Inns site to be operated on a commercial lease. It offers 3,000 square foot of trading space over two floor and a beer garden. The company is to invest £300,000 in the site, adding a feature staircase and an open kitchen and expects to re-open the site in mid-February. Meanwhile, the company has reported its The Bat and Ball site, a 12,000 square foot year-long pop-up bar and cafe that opened in mid-December at Westfield, Stratford City, is “doing well”.