152 Orchid Group staff lose their jobs

More than 150 Orchid Group pub staff have been sacked after administrators failed to secure the future of more than a dozen sites of the collapsed managed pub operator.

Orchid went into and straight out of administration last week under the terms of a 'pre-pack' deal.

Of nearly 50 pubs that were not part of that arrangement, administrators at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) have sold 31 sites to Spirit Group for an undisclosed sum.

But despite that deal going ahead 152 Orchid staff face the prospect of a bleak Christmas after PwC failed to find buyers for a further 14 sites.

In effect the 31-pub 'sale' is a reversion of the properties to Spirit, since the Punch Taverns-owned managed pub operator already owns the freeholds to the sites.

David Chubb, Mike Jervis and Colin Haig, partners at PwC, said another ex-Orchid pub, the Dragonfly in Cheltenham, had also been sold to an individual buyer as a going concern, bringing the number of pubs saved from closure to 272.

"Unfortunately, it has not been possible to sell 14 of the remaining pubs as a going concern," PwC said in a statement, "and accordingly the administrators have no option but to begin closure of these pubs with immediate effect.

"Sadly, this does mean the staff at these pubs will be made redundant. Customers who had bookings with these establishments over the festive season should endeavour to make alternative arrangements.

"We are still exploring options for the remaining 3 pubs in the portfolio."

The pubs that are now closing are:

Oban Inn, Oban

Bridgewater, Salford

Malt and Hoops and Cool Bar, Bournemouth

Ferry, Norwich

Falcon Tavern, Huntingdon

Millers, Saltford

Bear, Reading

Royal Hart, Ashford

St Mark's Tavern, Surbiton

Queen B, Chelmsford

Grand Hotel, Southend-on-Sea

Bar Room Bar @Tankard, Lambeth

Three Tuns, Canterbury

Hand and Flower, Hammersmith