City Diary — 3 February
The Lifeboat sails on
Maypole Group, the operator of six country inns, was placed in administration before Christmas. The jewel in the company's crown is the Lifeboat in Thornham, Norfolk, and its overspill bed & breakfast, the Old Coach House — arguably Norfolk's best-positioned and most historic coastal hostelry.
A report filed at Companies House by administrator Baker Tilly shows what a stunning business this is. It had a turnover of around £2.3m net of VAT (around £44,000 a week) for its two previous full years and chipped in with pre-tax profit of £588,000 and £562,000. Figures for the first six weeks of administration, between 27 October and 14 December 2010 show the jewel still shining through the quieter autumn months — it turned over £179,000 (or around £25,000 a week) and produced a surplus of £51,000.
Cougar sites selling well
A Cougar Leisure manager who rang City Diary to report a 48% like-for-like sales crash in December may have hastened the company's administration last month. Company sources indicate that fresh licence restrictions on the site clipped sales badly. But agent Christie+Co has been doing a sterling job in shifting sites.
Of the 11 Cougar pubs and bars it was instructed to market last year, it sold the freehold of the Townhouse pub in Whitley Bay, North Tyneside, to Wear Inns, the Berkley in Wigan to Amber Taverns, plus sites in Edinburgh, Liverpool and Romford to individual operators. Of the remaining six sites, Christie+Co has exchanged on one and has strong interest in three.
Top chef dances round Maypole
Talking of Maypole Group, enfant terrible Marco Pierre White and his pub partners in Powder Train are still hot favourites to scoop the business out of administration. The rumour has been fanned by sightings of White at one of Maypole's venues, the Pear Tree in Melksham, Wiltshire — he was spotted chatting to locals.
A spokesman for Powder Train, looking to dampen speculation, said: "We are in partnership with Marco Pierre White at two pubs, the Kings Arms in Fernhurst, West Sussex, and the Chequers Inn, Maresfield, East Sussex. There are some properties that are in our thoughts to move forward, but no concrete decisions have been made on anything."
Andrew keeps the peace
Marston's Inns & Taverns boss Derek Andrew has been exercising his tact and discretion in south Wales. The company is building a new pub near the Cardiff City stadium and is calling it the Sand Martin — despite vigorous campaigning for it to be named the Bluebird, in honour of the club's fans.
Andrew says a non-partisan approach is best. In a letter to Cardiff City Supporters' Club, he wrote: "In recent years we have chosen various combinations of birds, insects, animals etc. Hence, among other food-led outlets we have in south Wales, there is the Otter at Newbridge, the Willow Tree, Brynmawr, the Dragonfly, Merthyr Tydfil, and the Bumble Bee at Blackwood.
All are hugely popular. We have already been lobbied to name our pub, variously, the Leckwith, the Gareth Edwards or after any one of a plethora of worthy Welsh rugby legends. So as not to offend any one organisation, we always choose not to align ourselves to a group or individual, no matter how noble or revered the cause." He should have thought about a career in the diplomatic corps, no?
JDW boss backs the plastic bag
JD Wetherspoon prides itself on its green credentials. But a reader of Wetherspoon News takes the company to task for issuing a booklet of money-saving vouchers in a large plastic bag. Boss Tim Martin is having none of it — he's seldom seen without a plastic bag about his person, which he uses instead of a briefcase. "I use this sort of bag for wrapping bread, Dorset Cereals and carrying my in-tray and out-tray (since I don't have an iPhone), and many other creative uses."
Sports Bar & Grill on track to grow
A pub operator that has found success by focusing on London station sites
is ready to expand. The Sports Bar & Grill company, set up in 2008 by Bar Holdings, the original management of the now broken-up Sports Cafe Group, already has sites at Victoria, Marylebone and Fulham stations. Managing director David Evans tells Diary more sites are set to open at the capital's train stations by 2012, including Farringdon, King's Cross and Waterloo.
Ha Ha conversions tick along
Diary has fond memories of comfort noshing at Browns in Cambridge during idyllic trips to the city. Good to hear then, as someone who arrives in London via Victoria train station, that the flagship Ha Ha Bar & Grill in Victoria is to be converted into a Browns.
The site closes at the end of this month and is due for a six-week refurbishment prior to reopening. And how are the Ha Ha conversions going? Portsmouth and Nottingham reopened as All Bar Ones on 9 December. Brighton, Guildford and York will reopen as All Bar Ones this month. Meanwhile, Kingston-upon-Thames and Milton Keynes Ha Has convert to Browns this month.
Novus Leisure in rude health
The Morning Advertiser and M&C Report broke the news of premium bar operator Novus Leisure being in exclusive talks to buy Balls Brothers last week. Accounts at Companies House show Novus in the pink for the year to 26 June 2010
with like-for-like sales chunking up by 4% and EBITDA of £6.9m on sales of just under £95m — it's well over £2m of annual sales for each of its 37 venues. Dull stuff like interest costs dragged Novus to a loss of £3.9m, but 19 of the company's 37 venues saw some sort of refurbishment. Interest payable was £3.1m, covered 2.6 times by cash generated by operations.
The true joy of a CPO
The administration process at Balls Brothers looks unusual in returning main lender Barclays every penny it's owed — a total of £7.1m. Administrator Zolfo Cooper has been helped by a compulsory purchase order from Transport for London (TfL) on one unnamed site.
An initial payment of £500,000 will be handed over by TfL on the site shortly. And, joy of joys, if TfL can be satisfied on the profit potential of the site for Balls Brothers a further payment is likely to be made — in excess of £100,000.
