Charles Wells Pub Company has bought ten pubs for £9m in a deal that has boosted the company's estate to 260 pubs.
The acquisition represents a landmark decision for the company to expand beyond its traditional heartland.
The pubs, all leased, have been bought from a company called Traditional Freehouses, all of which operate under lease agreements.
They are primarily food led, destination outlets located along the M40 corridor although the group also includes sites in Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Warwickshire and Staffordshire. Five feature letting accommodation, which is one of the areas already identified for expansion across the existing estate to stimulate business development. Anthony Wallis, managing director of Charles Wells Pub Company, said: ³These sites are excellent businesses and we lookforward to working with our new lessees to further develop their positions as a venue of choice within their individual communities.
The outlets complement our strategy of investing in food-led pubs with letting rooms which provide retailers with profitable and sustainable businesses.
"The new distribution territories opened up by the supply agreement with Wells and Young's Brewing Company has allowed Charles Wells Pub Company to significantly extend the boundaries of their traditional operating area."
Wallis added: "We now have the means to broaden our acquisition activity into the new distribution territory.
We also have the funds and available resource to move quickly so are therefore keen to secure further pub groups or single sites as soon as possible.
"Saying that, they must still have the potential to meet our marketing led strategy of being First Choice for Customer and Consumer."
The pubs acquired through the agreement with Traditional Freehouses are: The George, Castleton (Derbyshire), The Duke of Wellington, Bourton on the Water (Gloucestershire), The Kilkenney, Andoversford (Gloucestershire), The Peacock, Redmile (Leicestershire), The Boot Inn, Barnard Gate (Oxfordshire), The Hand & Shears, Church Hanborough (Oxfordshire),The Moon & Sixpence, Hanwell (Oxfordshire), The Unicorn, Deddington (Oxfordshire), The Greyhound, Yarlet (Staffordshire), The Golden Cross, Ardens Grafton (Warwickshire),