Regent puts 11 sites up for sale

Regent Inns, the troubled bar and restaurant operator, has placed six Old Orleans sites and five Walkabouts on the market.

The company, which also operates Jongleurs and Walkabout, has instructed property agent Fleurets to find a buyer for the businesses, which comprise five leasehold properties plus one long leasehold.

The Old Orleans sites, which are expected to attract interest from restaurant operators, are located in Brighton, Cambridge, Ellesmere Port in Cheshire, Kingston-upon-Thames, Oxford and York.

Regent is prepared to sell the sites separately and the move will reduce the Old Orleans estate to about 20 outlets. Christie + Co has also been instructed by Regent Inns to market six other leasehold opportunities including five Walkabout sites.

The six sites are the Walkabouts in Shaftesbury Avenue, Putney, Newport and Grimsby, the Walkabout/Jongleurs in Edinburgh, and the Risa/Jongleurs in Cardiff. Asking prices for the leasehold interest in the sites range from nil premium to £250,000.

The free-of-tie leases, which date from 1998 onwards are all for periods of 25 years and above, with Putney running to 2040. The company, which has seen its shares collapse to 4p, valuing its share capital at less than £5m, is also in talks to sell the seven remaining freeholds in its Walkabout estate on a sale-and-leaseback basis, as it attempts to reduce its £80m debts.

The Old Orleans property in Brighton, which is held on a long leasehold, with a nominal annual rent, is expected to fetch up to £2.5m. The Cambridge site has a lease with seven years remaining, with an annual rent of about £100,000.

Ellesmere Port has about 16 years remaining on its lease, with a rent of about £140,000, while Kingston has about 20 years remaining, with an annual rent of about £160,000. Oxford has about eight years remaining, with a rent of about £190,000, while York has five years remaining, with a rent of about £90,000.