Pub operator City Pub Group has announced the disposal of six pubs for around £17.1m.
Five venues on the south coast – the Walrus, Brighton Beach Club and Lion and Lobster in Brighton, the Inn on the Beach on Hayling Island and The Travellers Friend in Woodford Green, Essex – have been sold to Portobello Starboard for cash consideration of £16.2m.
All are freehold pubs, with the exception of Brighton Beach Club, which is leasehold.
These five pubs, which recorded unaudited aggregate site EBITDA of £0.7m for the year ended 26 December 2021, are being acquired by Portobello Starboard Ltd – a newly incorporated firm – for £16.2m.
Separately, the company has sold The London Road Brewhouse, a freehold pub in Southampton for £0.9m. This sale completed on 18 March 2022.
The proceeds from the sales will be used to invest and expand the group in other areas across the UK.
Chairman Clive Watson said,
‘We have achieved a good price for these assets. The capital realised makes us debt free and in an excellent position to take advantage of the current market dislocation to further premiumise our estate and deliver long term growth through selected acquisition.’
