Joule's, the new-start brewery and pub operator, is looking to add a further five or six pubs to its estate.
The brewer and tenanted operator is building a brand-new £1.5m brewery in Market Drayton, Shropshire, having acquired the UK rights to the famous Joule's beer brand — dormant for 30 years — in perpetuity from Coors.
The company, funded by a consortium of private investors, has added 12 pubs to its three-strong estate in the past 18 months. It has taken advantage of freehold pubs being sold by large tenanted pubs — half a dozen have come from Punch, two from Marston's and two from Enterprise Inns.
Managing director Steve Nuttall said: "We've some some cracking sites at the right kind of money. Our pubs are closer to franchises.
"There is much more coherence than normal across our tenanted pubs, with sites operating as a family of pubs. There is a common thread running through them — they're old-fashioned in a good way. Our estate is a collection of old pubs restored rather than just refurbished, and we are immensely proud of it — they are all different, but all connected to our brewery."
Some pubs in the Joule's estate have already been restored and are fully-fledged Joule's houses, but a number of the new acquisitions are waiting in the wings for their bespoke treatment.
The next major milestone for Joule's is likely to occur in the autumn, when its new brewery will begin producing the famous Joule's beer for the estate and others.
Nuttall said: "The Joule's story is long and proud. That we have been able to secure this famous brand, its trademarks and recipes, especially for the original pale ale, is massively exciting."
Nuttall added: "It has taken nearly 10 years to pull all the elements together, culminating in the new brewery now under construction and due to complete in 2010.
"During that time the company has made strides in establishing a small group of pubs, some of which are original Joule's houses.
"The famous red cross
trade mark has started to re appear on pubs in its Staffordshire and Shropshire heartland. All that is now missing is the re-emergence of the beer — a wait that is nearly over."
Joyle's debt-funding is provided by the Co-op Bank. "It's been very proactive and likes our proposition. It feels we're in the right place at the right time — a small local pub company with a brewery."