A Brighton and Hove pub company hopes to run 20 more pubs as part of a deal with one of the country’s biggest owners and operators.
The Laine Pub Company is setting up Mash Inns as a joint venture with Enterprise Inns.
Enterprise flagged up the deal in an announcement to the London Stock Exchange this morning (Tuesday 22 March).
It said: “We are today announcing a further partnership with the creation of Mash Inns, a new venture with Laine Pub Group.
“We are also pleased that Laine Pub Group will be providing us with support and advice on the next stage of development of our Craft Union Pub Company.
“We aim to announce further partnerships in the second half of the year and expect to have at least 10 pubs trading under our various relationships by (Friday) 30 September 2016.”
The Propel Info food and pub trade online newsletter quoted Laine Pub Company chairman Gary Pettet saying: “Laine’s is delighted to have been given the opportunity to work with the UK’s biggest pub owner on a venture that provides significant benefits to both parties.
“Enterprise has excellent pubs located in our Brighton heartland and in the London locations where we have been expanding our estate.
“Laine’s has the skills to help run the pubs under management and aims to apply its format to six of them a year, with a target estate size of 20.”
Propel said that although the pubs would be operated by Mash Inns, support would be provided directly by the Laine Pub Company team.
It quoted as Laine’s chief executive Gavin George saying: “We hope to seamlessly integrate the support for the Mash sites into our existing operational set up.
“As existing Enterprise lessees, we are aware of the quality of the sites in their estate so we are very excited about the depth of possibilities that this partnership presents.
“When we created the original incarnation of the Laine’s business 20 years ago, the first site we opened was the Mash Tun in Brighton.
“Held on an Enterprise lease, the pub was an overnight success and a springboard for our growth.
“It seems fitting to recognise the importance of our first pub and the support we have received from Enterprise over the years by connecting the name of this latest venture to both.”
Laine’s already has backing from Risk Capital Partners which is run by the entrepreneur Luke Johnson and which bought a minority stake in the pub business in June 2014.
We need to see more originality within Brighton pubs. The chains that are running more and more of the city’s pubs are getting too generic in terms of decor, layout and beer choices. Lets have some variety back please!