Sale of Progressive Pub Co to S&NPE

Acting on behalf of Scottish & Newcastle Pub Enterprises (S&NPE), Christie + Co acquired the four-strong Progressive Pub Group for an undisclosed sum.

Progressive, which was set up around four years ago by Matthew Evans, comprises the Crown Hotel in Brotton, Teesside, the George & Dragon in Bacup, Lancashire, the New Inn in Bury, and the Spinners Arms in Atherton, Manchester.

Triple acquisition for Close Imperial

Christie + Co recently acquired three freehold pubs in Essex for a figure in excess of £3.5m on behalf of Close Imperial Pub Company, the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) headed by Tony Carson.

The three new additions to the group’s estate were The Swan at Chappel, near Halstead, The Alma in Chelmsford, and The Angel at Stoke by Nayland, all high quality well known freehouses.

Sale of a portfolio of 30 pubs

Christie + Co recently sold 30 tenanted and leased pubs to Scottish & Newcastle Pub Enterprises (S&NPE) on behalf of Tadcaster Pub Company and Tadcaster Hotels & Inns for an undisclosed sum. The 30-strong package contained a mix of sites spread across South Yorkshire and Humberside, and as far north as Newcastle.

Sale of two Mitchells & Butlers pubs

Acting on behalf of Mitchells & Butlers, Christie + Co has sold two food-led, freehold public houses near Perth and Preston. The Wheel Inn in Scone is a substantial 200-cover pub restaurant which sold to local operator, Maclay Inns, for in excess of the £900,000 asking price. Located on the busy A6 in Barton, near Preston, The Boars Inn caters for 130 covers and sold to Mitchells of Lancaster off an asking price of £750,000.

Blubeckers acquire two new sites through Christie + Co

Blubeckers, the pub restaurant division of The Restaurant Group, has recently acquired the Refectory public house in Milford near Godalming, Surrey, through Christie + Co. This transaction follows Blubeckers’ acquisition of the Duke of York public house in Barnet, sold to the group by Christie + Co as part of a marketing campaign on behalf Herald Inns & Bars.

Aprirose acquires nine Revolution vodka bars

Christie + Co has acquired nine freehold Revolution vodka bars on behalf of the specialist property investor Aprirose, in a deal worth in excess of £17 million. The nine Revolution properties are located in: Huddersfield, Lancaster, Leicester, Lincoln, Liverpool, Newcastle-under-Lyme and Wolverhampton, plus two in Manchester.

Gourmet Holdings' sale of The Highwayman pub and restaurant

Acting on behalf of Gourmet Holdings, Christie + Co has sold the freehold interest in The Highwayman pub and restaurant in Checkendon, on the edge of Chiltern Hills. Experienced operator, Ken O’Shea, purchased the freehold as his second business venture in the public house sector.

The Crown Inn, Sarre

Acting on behalf of Shepherd Neame, Christie + Co has sold the lease on the Grade I Listed, 15th Century Crown Inn in the village of Sarre in Kent.

Sale of The Swan at Forton to British Country Inns

Acting on behalf of Jean and Rick Skelton, Christie + Co has sold The Swan at Forton, an acclaimed freehouse and dining destination in rural Shropshire, to British Country Inns 3 plc.

Sale of New Inn Hotel to Enterprise Inns

Acting on behalf of Mr and Mrs Keith Mannion, who had owned the property for 19 years, Christie + Co has sold the 18th Century New Inn Hotel in the Yorkshire Dales National Park. The deal was agreed to Enterprise Inns off an asking price of £1.5 million.

Punch Taverns

In just 18 months, Christie + Co has completed the transfer of over 650, former Spirit pubs from Punch Tavern’s managed estate to lease. These new opportunities were of exceptional quality, with strong trading histories. As a result they generated a considerable amount of interest and we were able to seek premiums for the leases.

Rock-Inn Pub Company

The Bedford-based Rock-Inn Pub Company recently acquired three ex-Spirit Group public houses on brand new leases from Punch Taverns, through Christie + Co. The three pubs are the Star Inn in Woodstock; the Fish Inn, Northampton town centre and the Squirrels in the village of Duston, Northamptonshire.

The Bold Pub Company

Acting on behalf of the Bold Pub Company, which is financed with funds managed by Close Ventures Limited, Christie + Co sold the business, and its portfolio of 30 freehold properties, to Calco Midlands Limited.

Taking aAIM into the pub industry

On 10 May aAIM announced its £82.5m purchase of 279 pubs from Marston’s Pub Company (formerly The Wolverhampton and Dudley Breweries). Christie + Co inspected and valued the pubs on behalf of aAIM and its partners, providing detailed advice, which assisted aAIM in the preparation of its bid, and in evaluating its strategy for the pubs.

Foden Inns

Acting on behalf of Foden Inns, Christie + Co brokered the sale of a package of four public houses in the West Midlands. The Properties were acquired by Newport Pub Company for an undisclosed sum.

Charles Wells

Christie + Co has successfully completed on the sale of the final Charles Wells Pub Company lease, following the transfer of 15 managed pubs into a wholly leased and tenanted estate.

Newport Pub Company

Christie + Co acted on behalf of The Newport Pub Company in the sale of 11 freehold pub businesses to the newly formed InnDeed Group for an undisclosed sum.

Celtic Inns

Christie + Co undertook full inspections and provided valuations of the 68-strong Celtic Inns estate, which Wolverhampton & Dudley Breweries acquired in March 2006. The properties are principally located in South Wales and the South West, as well as a small number in the Home Counties.

Marston's

Marston's is one of the UK’s largest regional brewers and pub operators. Recently, it decided to carry out a securitisation to refinance its debt. Christie + Co was instructed to provide a valuation of 1,592 pubs. A team of senior valuers, headed up by Colin Wellstead and James Shorthouse, provided a valuation of £1.17bn for the 1,592 pubs.

Unique Pub Co estate

We have been valuers of the Unique Pub Co estate throughout its ownership by both Nomura and Enterprise Inns. We have undertaken annual valuations of the 4,000 or so pub estate since 1999. The last valuation attributed a value of £2.359 billion, which equates to £590k per pub. This work is overseen by James Shorthouse and includes a team of local valuers who inspect 20% of the properties with a desktop review being undertaken of the remainder.

Pubmaster estate

When Punch Taverns was researching the acquisition of Pubmaster, it appointed Christie + Co to undertake a review of the Pubmaster estate of 3,127 pubs. In excess of 600 pubs were inspected within a two-week period with advice given to Punch on value as a pub, value for alternative use, rental on a substantive agreement, estimate of barrelage, AWP and rent, plus a number of other factors. This was instrumental in Punch completing the transaction at £1.19 billion. We subsequently acted for Punch providing a valuation in the disposal of 256 pubs to London & Edinburgh Inns for £59million.

Star & Garter

Christie + Co was asked to look at the Star & Garter at Redditch as the existing tenant was struggling with the business. We contacted the planning and highways departments to establish their views on redevelopment. Dialogue continued with the council and local police who also actively encouraged the closure of the pub to ensure everyone in the process knew exactly what was happening. The council decided very quickly that it did not want a food or commercial use but it would support residential use. Offers ranged from £730k to over £1m with a deal being agreed after presentations from the three bidders to discuss their schemes in more detail. Full planning permission was obtained for 24 two-bedroom apartments. The value of the pub as a going concern was no more than £450k. Christie + Co extracted over twice this value by its detailed approach to the disposal.

Marston's’ five-yearly valuation

Christie + Co was instructed by the Marston's to undertake the five-yearly revaluation of its estate. Christie + Co inspected and valued over 1,250 managed and tenanted public houses and 350 unlicensed properties throughout England. The W&D licensed estate comprises a huge variety of pubs, ranging from small village locals to highly regarded Pitcher & Piano bars. The project involved over 30 valuers from across Christie + Co’s network of UK offices, and was completed and delivered to the client on schedule.