County Estate goes into administration
Pub management firm County Estate Management, the company led by Clive Rayden, has gone into administration in the wake of the collapse of Pubfolio.
County Estate Management was left running just 135 pubs after Pubfolio's sites were passed to industry veteran Ted Kennedy to run by administrator PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Formed in 1997, County Estate Management acquired, on behalf of clients, its first estate of 52 pubs from Phoenix.
After that the estate under management grew to more than 1,100 UK pubs at one stage with County Estate running the pubs on behalf of 25 different freehold owners.
It is understood that County's 135 pubs are free-of-tie.
Pubfolio and the smaller Goldtry both went into administration three weeks ago. The companies owned 253 primarily freehold pub properties — Pubfolio Limited own 219 and Goldtry own 34 — with pubs primarily located in South Wales, the North, Midlands and the South West.
David Chubb, joint administrator at PricewaterhouseCoopers, said at the time: "The companies have suffered as a result of the ongoing economic challenges facing this particular segment of the pub sector which resulted in a deterioration in trading in the estate.
"Having run out of alternative options, administration of the companies became the only option."
Industry sources indicate the administrator for County Estate is running the estate for the time being with a slightly reduced staff.
There is speculation that the pubs will be run by former County Estate management through a new vehicle going forward.
