London Town pre-pack: all pubs open

The pre-pack administration of London Town, the property group that controls more than 400 managed and tenanted pubs, has been done with a view to keeping all its pubs open, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) administrator David Chubb.

A total of 45 properties from the 350-strong business now sit in administration with Christie & Co looking for buyers.

However, PWC negotiated a short-term management contract with the company that emerged from the pre-pack, London Town Pub Management Limited, to run them.

The group of 45 pub includes 16 Punch Taverns sites and a smaller number of Enterprise Inns sites.

Chubb told the Morning Advertiser​: "We all know that the last worst thing to do in the current climate is to close pubs.

"Nobody has lost their job in the pre-pack and we are very pleased that we have given every pub the chance to survive."

Chubb indicated that the fate of the 45 pubs in administration would likely hinge on landlords' willingness to reduce rent going forward.

It is understood that London Town Management Services has an option to buy around eight of the pubs in administration. 

The business emerging from the London Town pre-pack will be led by veteran leisure sector executive Billy Buchanan, who has been combined chief executive and finance director of London Town for 18 months.

Complicated deal​

Chubb said the pre-pack had been complicated because London Town comprised a managed and leased estate as well as a management services company.

"There are parts of the group that haven't gone into insolvency," said Chubb. "We have negotiated a deal that ensures all the pubs continue to be supported by the head office structure to ensure pubs don't close — they will either be sold or handed back to landlords in an open state.

"Our whole strategy has been about keeping everything trading and splitting up the group — it's been important to avoid handing keys back to landlords." 

London Town, which comprised many pubs offloaded by Punch Taverns and Enterprise Inns ahead of the smoking ban in 2006, has been in trouble for some time, breaching borrowing covenants in 2008 and 2009.

It delisted from the AIM junior stock market last week. The business had started as a property development operation before moving into the pub trade four years ago with the purchase of 167 pubs from veteran property investor Jack Petchey.