Global Star pubco snaps up Walsall's historic Highgate Brewery

A little-known pubco has bought Walsall's historic Highgate Brewery. Global

Star, which operates about 100 pubs in the West Mid-lands, paid an undisclosed sum to Aston Manor Brewery, the owner of Highgate.

Global Star will add Highgate's nine pubs to its estate and also plans to supply Highgate beers to its entire estate. Global Star is owned by three directors - Wayne Toon and brothers Kulvinder and Harvinder Uppal - and runs a tenanted estate of mainly community and town-centre pubs, most of them freeholds.

Toon said the deal with Aston Manor had taken about eight weeks to finalise: "It is the ultimate thing for us to own Highgate so that we can service our own pubs."

He added: "We will also be investing about £500,000 at the brewery to increase production. The brewery is currently running at about 25,000 barrels a year - half of its production capacity."

Toon said the acquisition will allow Global Star to "tidy up the estate" and create the opportunity to convert some outlets into

gastropubs. "We will introduce beer with food at most of our pubs," he said.

Highgate will continue to supply beers to Aston Manor, which specialises in packaged beers for the off-trade.