Banwell House on the acquisition trail

Banwell House, the group led by former Greene King regional manager Toby Brett, is on the acquisition trail to add two or three freehold or free-of-tie pubs to its estate as well as adding letting rooms to existing sites for the first time.

The group saw its like for like sales grow 4% in the 12 months to 1 January 2015 across the four pub sites and a peak of 7% in like-for-like sales for December.

Brett told M&C Report he is looking to add two or three sites to its estate this year after agreeing a refinancing of its debt with Barclays, combined with cash flow funding, to enable the business to continue growing.

“If we can do well in the beginning of the year we are hoping to open two or three pubs in 2015. The trouble is the quality of the sites is not out there at the right price.”

The comapny is looking at sites in town centres and suburbs of cities in Bath, Bristol, Cheltenham and potentially Cardiff.

“We would like to keep adding more sites each year but we will have to see how we manage with the new sites first. It’s a lot to do with getting the right people in to do them and promote one of our existing managers to operations manager.”

Meanwhile the first letting rooms in the estate will be added to the Rose & Crown in Trowbridge in February. There is scope to add accommodation to the Three Horseshoes, between Frome and Westbury in Somerset, also.

Alongside the Rose & Crown and Three Horseshoes Brett currently operates The Duke of Cumberland in Holcombe and The Victoria in Bath.