Brewhouse & Kitchen has potential to be 50-strong venture

Brewhouse and Kitchen, the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) backed venture, has a vision of building a group of more than 50 pubs across the country.

The company, which is led by Simon Bunn and Kris Gumbrell., currently operartes eight sites in the South and South East, with a further three secured in Southbourne, Southampton and Sutton Coldfield.

Rupert West, investment manager at the company’s backers Puma VCT, said: “The funding we have already provided and the agreements we have in place should get them to about 20 unit in the south of England, which is a strong start for a branded business. After that we would like to be involved further and help them grow out to be a bigger, 50-plus unit brand.”

Puma VCTs provided what the company calls ‘a quick and substantial source of funding’, investing £1.5m into Brewhouse and Kitchen in December 2012, and a further £1.6m three months.

The group is set to open the sites in Southampton and Sutton Coldfield by the end of the year. Both sites were acquired by the Puma-backed Hot Copper Pub Company.

Its Southbourne site is set to open in early 2016.