Brunning and Price buys Sutton Hall

Highly rated Brunning & Price, the operator of freehold food-led pubs, has bought the freehold of Sutton Hall, a listed 16th-century manor house just outside Macclesfield, Cheshire, for an undisclosed price.

The acquisition means Brunning & Price, which has a turnover of £17m, now has 15 pubs. The north-west operator - unique in winning the Good Pub Guide's Pub Group of the Year award on three occasions - made a pre-tax profit of just over £1m in its latest financial year.

A spokesman said: "The hall oozes character: it is a Tudor half-timbered building, with exposed beams, inglenook fireplaces, oak panelling, creaking floorboards and a nice old staircase. ​

"It has been trading as a hotel and pub with 10 bedrooms, and we bought it from the Bradshaw family. They have been there for more than 27 years, and it was a wrench for them to part with it.

"We're going to carry out a major renovation to bring it to peak condition, and will, as ever, go to great lengths to preserve the character and integrity of the building, which is what attracted us in the first place.

"It could take up to a year, but we're in no rush and we're going to do it properly."

Brunning & Price was founded in 1981 when chairman Jerry Brunning bought the Bell at Outwood, Cheshire.

The company's managing director, Graham Price, began his career in licensed retail as a graduate trainee with Allied Breweries. He created Associated Inns with his father in 1986 and bought the Middle House Hotel in Mayfield, Sussex.