Brunning & Price ramp up pub-restaurant operation

The Restaurant Group (TRG) is to ramp up the roll out of its Brunning & Price (B&P) pub-restaurant operation, after appointing property advisors to seek new site opportunities.

TRG, which acquired the then 14-strong B&P business in 2007 for £32m, has jointly appointed AG&G and Christie+Co to initially find acquisition opportunities inside the M25 and within B&P's heartlands of the north-west and south-east.

It is thought that it will eventually seek further locations between the M40 and M6, bridging the gap between its operations in the north-west and south-east.

The company is looking for "interesting and unusual properties with the potential to make pubs with great personality". It said that these sites "must be capable of creating 5,000sq ft of space for customer and back-of-house use, providing a minimum of 100 covers".

B&P currently operates an estate of 23 sites, including 13 in the north-west, nine in the south-east and one, the Greyhound, in Oxford.

A provisional date of 26 July has been set for B&P's latest opening, which will be the Old Hall in Sandbach.

Speaking after its full-year results earlier this year, Andrew Page, chief executive of TRG, said: "Our pub restaurants traded well during 2010, increasing margins and profits.

"We have continued our programme of modifying the former Blubeckers sites to bring them more into line with the Brunning & Price style of operation and the results have been very encouraging. We expect to complete this during 2011