S&NPC to dispose of 100 pubs

Scottish & Newcastle Pub Company (SNPC), the 2,000-strong tenanted and leased group owned by Heineken, is to market for sale up to 100 pubs this spring, M&C Report​.

The group, which is led by Willie Crawshay, has asked property agent Fleurets to handle the disposal process, which is expected to go live at the beginning of March.

S&NPC has yet to determine the exact number of pubs that will be sold as it is still reviewing its estate but M&C understands that the final number will be somewhere between 80 and 100.

The company and its advisers declined to comment on the situation beyond a statement that said: "S&N is considering the sale of up to 100 sites and more information will be released when plans are firmed up."

The mandate to Fleurets comes after the same agent was asked to dispose of 50 freehold sites on behalf of the brewer last year. So far about three quarters of this package has been sold or is at various legal stages before completion.

S&NPC is effectively a management company, overseeing the tenanted and leased estates of landlords such as Royal Bank of Scotland. In recent times it has sought to clarify its property model by selling the freeholds of any pubs it still owns to third parties, in favour of a pure management role.

This latest disposal programme is understood to be separate to that process, with the intention being that the pubs that go up for sale will be disposed of outright.

It is thought that some of the properties up for sale will be sold to property developers for alternative use.

S&NPC recently changed its name from Scottish & Newcastle Pub Enterprises.