Laurel prepares to close 22 pubs

Yates operator Laurel Pub Company, the managed company owned by Robert Tchenguiz, is to close 22 pubs next week.

The move comes as the company prepares to put a larger number of pubs on the market.

The pubs being closed down are believed to hail from each of the major wet-land brands.

Laurel's high street pubs have seen a marked downturn in trade since the start of November.

One source has claimed that the drop in like-for-like sales has been around the 10% mark in parts of the wet-led business, offset by marginal increases in food sales.

Chief executive Paul Symonds e-mailed managers at the start of this week to say that the smoking ban and supermarket prices had affected the business.

He insisted, however, that parts of the business, the foodier areas such as Slug & Lettuce and La Tasca, were very buoyant.

Structured shutdown​

The closure of 22 sites is being referred to internally as a "structured shutdown"​.

One source claimed that the shutdown would occur on Thursday 28 February - the day after the end of the current Laurel financial year.

Laurel is believed to be under pressure from its banks to re-structure the business through a controlled administration as a pre-condition of new funding arrangements.

A source close to Laurel said at the start of the week: "It's a debate we are having with our banks at the moment. ​

"We are trying to refinance, which is tough in this market. We are trying to keep it as a whole.

"We have some leasehold pubs on the wet-led side that with the smoking ban are not performing well."

Laurel lost £12.26m on a turnover of £186.8m in its most recent financial year to the end of February 2007.

Controlled administration​

The company is understood to be considering whether it wants to jettison between 50 and 100 pubs in total.

Under controlled administration the company would briefly enter administration before its best sites - the majority of the business - are moved out again.

Laurel is known to have had a number of poorly-performing leasehold sites on the market through Davis Coffer Lyons for more than a year.

•Business Opinion with The PMA Team - Laurel's slippery slope of toxic leases​.