£20m 'sparkle' for 450 Punch pubs

Punch Taverns is to invest up to £20m on "sparkle jobs" at around 450 pubs, with a view to providing a trading boost for licensees.

The plan is part of the company's commitment to further evolve its leased business model, looking at new ways to help licensees build sustainable businesses.

The Investing For Growth scheme will see an average of £37,000 spent at each pub to deliver small-scale improvements and "sparkles", helping to drive trade and improve their pub's future, especially in the run-up to the important World Cup and summer trading period.

Director of operations Kevin Georgel said: "It's part of our approach to make sure that we support our partners in the most effective way. Licensees seem to be absolutely thrilled — some can hardly believe it.

"We know we have licensees working incredibly hard and whose pubs are not performing at an optimum level for whatever reason."

Investment has begin at about a dozen pubs, with the rest set to be complete over the next couple of months.

There is a strong investment emphasis on upgrading food offers and the introduction or improvement of cask-ale offers. Better internal and external signage is also a priority.

Punch has contracted an independent training provider to ensure further support on a pub-by-pub basis. The company has sourced a high-quality providers of fixtures and fittings for licensees who want to upgrade.

The Investing For Growth scheme is also unusual in not being rentalised in the normal fashion. In some cases, investment precedes the hoped-for phased withdrawal of rent or beer discount concessions. In other cases, investment is taking place where Punch feels support will be needed in the future.

Elsewhere, usual return on investment (ROI) levels set by Punch for a capital investment have been relaxed.