Seven Spirit pubs up for auction

Freeholds of a further seven pubs where Spirit Group is the tenant are up for auction at the end of this month.

The pubs, expected to reach almost £13m in total, are available at the Allsop Commercial auction on 31 March in London, where 23 tenanted pubs are up for auction in total.

All 23 pubs draw annual rental incomes of between £27,000 and £274,000. Based on auction guide prices, the target to be raised from the sales is £21m to £23m.

While 11 of the pubs auctioned are tenanted by major pubcos, the remaining 12 are occupied by individuals.

There will be one pub auctioned by each of the following: Greene King, Tattershall Castle, Admiral Taverns and Regent Inns (an Old Orleans venue).

British Land, who owns the freeholds of the Spirit-tenanted pubs, hopes to raise between £12.3m to £13m from their sale. The pubs are mostly located in Greater London, although one is in Widnes, Cheshire.

Their prices range from £1.1m to £2.9m, and rental incomes range from £132,978 to £268,554 per year.

A February auction saw only four of 10 Spirit-tenanted pubs sold, while at a December auction, British Land sold three out of four Spirit-tenanted pubs. In 2003 British Land acquired 65 freehold pubs from Spirit for £174m on a sale and leaseback arrangement.