Admiral bails out for now
Admiral Taverns boss Gary Landesberg has withdrawn from buying pubs while the economic climate remains so uncertain. The alternative-use value for pubs is still holding up well, he insists. Pubs sold at a rate of five a week by Admiral last year had reached an average value of £375,000 each. Landesberg plans to sell a similar number of pubs this year as well.
JDW = six tenanted pubs
At last, someone prepared to talk about where a new JD Wetherspoon (JDW) might grab its trade from. JW Lees boss, William Lees-Jones, below , says: "From an economic point of view, every town that has a Wetherspoon probably needs to lose six pubs just to compensate for it, in the same way that when a big supermarket comes to town, all the grocery and neighbourhood shops disappear because they simply can't compete." With average JDW takings of £28,000 a week, that would be about right, if the average tenanted pub is taking £4,000 a week or so.
Pub that might be our hub
Apologies for the most parochial City Diary item of all time. The Bluebird in Crawley's Tilgate Forest has been idling as a dud Innkeeper's Fayre venue since Mitchells & Butlers bought it as part of the 239-strong Whitbread package in summer 2006. The pub had to be denuded of its Brewers Fayre signage as part of the deal. Now - hurrah - City Diary learns there is a date - 10 April - for a reopening after conversion to a Pub & Carvery, the M&B turnover-plumping bargain-basement carvery. "We'll be closed for two weeks for a refurbishment and staff training - we're going to need a lot more staff," a spokesman says. Too right you are. The Morning Advertiser editorial team will be using it a lot more, for a start. The team visited just once in its Whitbread days.
Dodgy Doug still punting
Dodgy Doug Glendon has been banned from serving as a company director for 11 years after running Inn2gether Public House Management (IPHM) while he was an undischarged bankrupt. Glendon is a graduate of the Provence school of
pub punting. He was unable to explain satisfactorily to the Insolvency Service a deficiency of £284,000 in the IPHM accounts. Last month, Glendon was still offering investment properties. He wrote to a City Diary contact: "I have a magnificent investment opportunity. Asking price £1,995,000, with an initial rent of £142,500, giving an initial yield of 7.15%. It has five yearly reviews (upwardly only) and the first is a guaranteed minimum of 8%, thereafter RPI - it is an FRI (full insuring and repairing) lease with no breaks and is for 35 years." Ho hum.
Shrewsbury double blow
Shrewsbury, Shropshire, is another victim of Laurel's move to close sites. Bar Med in Lower Claremont Bank and the Yates's in Mardol ceased trading on Easter Sunday. Adrian Clarke, manager of the Yates's venue, said 45 people would lose their jobs, adding: "The company has decided it wants to focus on the restaurant side of the business. To lose two bars off the circuit is going to damage the nightlife."
Final figure of eight
Walkabout is selling seven freeholds through agent Christie+Co. City Diary notes that another freehold is available at a Jones Lang LaSalle public auction, to be held on 8 April at the Cumberland Hotel, London. The Walkabout in Dalton Square, Lancaster, is being offered with a guide price of £1.7m to £1.75m, with 15 years left on the lease, at a rent of £103,700 pa. Presumably a private landlord wants to release cash or is affected by nerves.
Spend sites amid closures
The Laurel pubs closing their doors last week included some that had been beneficiaries of very recent investment indeed. The Abbey in Reading, Berkshire, formerly a Ha! Ha!, reopened last November after an expensive refurbishment. Similarly, the Yates's venue in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, had a £100,000 revamp only last year. It's more evidence that Laurel's banks have been driving strategy as a pre-condition of a re-finance.
What happened at Yates?
Plenty of rumblings from Yates's in the wake of the decision to close another 60 Laurel sites. Most surprising, as mentioned before, is that a frightening 42 sites operated by Yates's were on the disposal list. What's gone so wrong? Theories abound. "Swathes of the senior operational management of Yates's had gone within a few months of acquisition," says one contact. "Many of the managers at the 42 sites are new arrivals," says another. "Laurel area managers cover geographies rather than brands," says a third. "There's been too little investment outside the growth brands," adds another.
Come on down to the Chicago Frock Café
Old-fashioned values are set to return to the Chicago Rock Café chain. Staff in Maidenhead, Berkshire, have taken to treating ladies like, er, ladies. They are "making dramatic changes" , according to the local newspaper, by adopting a new etiquette, and providing free chocolate and Champagne in a bid to give the fairer sex a lady-friendly night out. Door staff have undergone an intensive two-week etiquette training programme on how to treat a lady, including greeting female customers with a smile and a polite "good evening". The age-old question - what do women want? - may finally have an answer.
