City Pub Group acquires three London sites
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The City Pub Group (CPG) has announced that it has acquired three new pubs in London and the exchange of contracts on another in Brighton.
CPG has completed the acquisition of three sites in London; the Travellers Friend in Woodford and two Jam Tree pubs in Chelsea and Clapham, and has exchanged on a premium seafront cafe-style bar in Brighton.
The total consideration for the sites is £8.1m, payable in cash from the group’s existing resources.
The Travellers Friend pub, also known as ‘the Spivs’, was acquired from private owners in an off-market transaction. It is a freehold pub with heritage dating back to 1840s and a dining area was opened at the site in October 2017.
The Jam Tree sites in Clapham’s Old Town and King’s Road in Chelsea were acquired from a small independent pub company and are both leasehold. The seafront café-style bar in Brighton is a long leasehold with Brighton City Council as the landlord. It will be the third Brighton site in the group’s portfolio.
CPG now has 41 trading sites and the size of its estate (once exchanged pubs are completed and development pubs are opened) will have increased to 46. The company’s chairman, Clive Watson, said the group was confident that it would own 50 sites by the end of the year.
Watson said: “The purchase of these pubs demonstrates CPG’s broad acquisition network. All fit our criteria and will sit well alongside our existing sites. The Travellers Friend, the two Jam Tree sites along with the new Brighton seafront venue will help position the business for future growth and expansion in 2019. The existing trading estate further underpins our expectations for 2018.
“Our pipeline remains strong with further deals currently being appraised. Our strong balance sheet will enable us to capitalise on these. We are now being offered pubs from many sources and we are able to transact at attractive prices in a buyer’s market.”