Top MA pub lands £10m investment
Morning Advertiser Pub of the Year Award winner David Sax has secured £10m worth of private-equity backing to expand the Cow brand in the southern counties.
Sax transformed the Cow pub in Parkstone, Dorset, from a run-down Eldridge Pope boozer taking just £75,000 a year to one with a turnover in excess of £1m within four years.
The awards were a great boost and a springboard for great coverage in the local press and on TVDavid Sax.
After the Cow was crowned Pub of the Year in February, Sax's high-profile media presence attracted the attention of the unnamed backers willing to invest in an expansion programme.
"The awards were a great boost and a springboard for great coverage in the local press and on TV," he said. "It really put us on a new platform and helped to attract the investors."
Sax is searching for freehold sites in the south.
"I would like to grow organically and find a site within a 30-mile radius of the Cow.
"We have seen a lot of sites already in Dorset, Hampshire and Sussex, and fired off letters to breweries and hotel companies. There have probably been two hotels and four pubs that would have been suitable for us, but there are no deals on the go at present.
"We are finding freeholds difficult to get hold of.
"Ideally I would like to find a town-house style hotel with about 20 letting rooms for the next site."
Sax has also launched a consultancy arm of his business.
"Until we find another venue I have time on my hands, so the plan is to spread my expertise," he said.
"I can spend the day at a pub and offer licensees the benefit of my experience."
The consultancy fee is £1,000 for a day.
