A pack of managed pub companies including Greene King, Noble House and Spirit Group are bidding for the discarded Beefeater sites.
The large-scale sites have attracted a clamour of interest from a large number of operators that is also thought to include Laurel and Scottish & Newcastle.
About 45 sites are up for grabs after leisure group Whitbread axed 51 Beefeater outlets from 209-strong brand.
Whitbread wants to sell the pubs to one buyer but has invited offers on both an individual and collective basis. About 15 parties in total are thought to be bidding for some or all of the pubs.
Whitbread, which also operates the Brewer's Fayre, Brewsters pub-restaurants, budget accommodation chain Travel Inn, and the David Lloyd fitness clubs, is looking for offers of £1.1m-£1.2m per pub or between £49m and £54m for the entire package.
The pubs, mainly freehold, are dotted around the country, from Scotland to Wales and across to Kent. Many are located in highly competitive trading areas with rival chains close by.
They are at the older end of the Beefeater chain and any buyer would need to invest heavily to bring the sites up to scratch. The units are understood to be in poor decorative order and many need structural work.
Whitbread removed the underperforming sites from the Beefeater chain as part of a far-reaching brand review. Speculation suggested the Beefeater name would be dropped, a claim denied by Whitbread divisional boss Bill Shannon. "We are looking at where this brand can go for the next 10 years," he said.
"At the moment we are working to a brief with the Beefeater name. There is a lot of value and loyalty to the name.
"The challenge of putting a new one to it and communicating what it represents to people would be colossal."
The underperformance of the Beefeater chain has been a thorn in Whitbread's side in recent times. A number were converted to the more contemporary Out & Out chain in a bid to halt the decline.
But the company discovered conversion did not add more customers, it replaced existing Beefeater patrons with a younger audience.
Related articles:
Whitbread plans to revamp flagging Beefeater (8 January 2003)
Whitbread plans to keep Beefeater name (20 November 2002)