The pubs are: The Cricketers on the Green in Pirbright, The Kings Arms in Egham and The Duke of Cambridge in Tilford, near Farnham.
While each pub has its own individual character, they share an excellent village or town centre location, a reputation for outstanding food and strong links into their local community. The transition to Brakspear ownership will be seamless, although The Cricketers on the Green will close for a four-week refurbishment designed to strengthen its appeal ahead of the key summer trading season.
Existing Brakspear business owners – Brakspear’s term for its tenants and lessees – will be taking on two of the new pubs. Manu Bhatt, operator of award-winning pubs The Running Horses in Surrey and The Leicester Arms in Kent, will be taking The Cricketers on the Green while Will Buck, the operator at The George Inn near Bedford, takes The Kings Arms. At The Duke of Cambridge, current GM Paul Grieve becomes the new business owner.
Brakspear chief executive Tom Davies said: “These beautiful and popular pubs are a great addition to our existing L&T estate. We’re delighted to have secured all three, and look forward to working with our talented operators to build on their current trading and create exceptional pubs.
“We are also delighted to be placing two of the new pubs with Will and Manu, who are taking on their second and third Brakspear pub respectively. This gives them scale to develop their offer across several sites, as they build their own multiple-site businesses with our support.”
He added: “We are continually looking for pubs to add to both our L&T estate and Honeycomb Houses managed estate. Despite the challenges our industry continues to face, we are confident that, with the right sites and the right operators, we can build more successful pub businesses. We’re looking forward to adding more great pubs to our estate this year.”
