Wetherspoons news
One of the last pubs on the JDW disposals list from 2023 has finally closed. The photo shows members of CAMRA’s West London branch having a last drink in the Plough & Harrow, Hammersmith.
There is still a JDW pub in Hammersmith, the William Morris.
However, the company has announced that it has put six more sites up for sale. Two of them are in London: Baxter’s Court in Mare Street, Hackney and the Kentish Drovers in Peckham. The pubs are both freehold. The six are available as a package or individually. A company spokesperson repeated their usual comment, “Wetherspoon does, on occasion, put some of its pubs up for sale. This is a commercial decision by the company.” The pubs will remain open until they are sold.
Meanwhile, the Walham Green, fashioned out of the Grade II-listed former booking hall of Fulham Broadway Underground station at a reported cost of £3 million, opened on 8 July. We understand that many of the staff from the Plough & Harrow have transferred to here. It was busy when I visited on 10 July. This had previously been a Market Hall site, one of several street food venues.
It has been decided that the new pub in Merchant Square, Paddington Basin will be called the Sir Alexander Fleming. Much of the development work on penicillin was carried out at the nearby St Mary’s Hospital. There was a pub of this name in Bouverie Place but this closed in 2017. We understand that it has been gutted and remains vacant.
The reopening of the Barking Dog has been put back to 2027 at least. The original pub closed in 2022 and the plan is that a replacement pub will form the ground floor of the rebuilt Trocoll House. The project has however been somewhat delayed and, to date, only two floors out of 28 have been built. With thanks to Colin Price for the update.
Fuller’s results
In the year to 29 March 2025, the pub company saw its revenue increase by 4.8% to £376.3 million. Profit before tax increased by 32% to £27 million. At this year’s AGM, Michael Turner will be retiring as chair after 18 years. In his place, chief executive Simon Emeny is being promoted to executive chair with Fred Turner becoming chief operating officer. According to one report, one of Mr Turner’s responsibilities will be to ‘leverage the synergies’. Mr Emeny commented that the company’s low level of debt gives them ‘plenty of firepower to add further ‘high quality assets’ to their portfolio. The company however faces additional £8 million costs from the increases in national minimum wage and employers’ national insurance contributions. Mr Emeny said he hoped that the increase in prices by 15p a pint in March would cover this but they would need a ‘strong year’. He was however encouraged by the start to the new financial year.
Young’s news
Over the year ended 31 March 2025, Young’s saw their revenue grow by 5.7% to £485.8 million, with adjusted operating profit increasing by £14.1 million to £71.4 million. This continued into the first quarter of the new financial year with revenue up by 6.6%. Chief executive Simon Dodd commented, “Our business is performing well and we are confident about the year ahead.”
Aldrich Inns
This relatively new pub company now operates three pubs in London. As reported in Pub News, they have acquired the freehold of the Newman Arms in Fitzrovia. They are also leasing the Goat (originally Ye Goat in Boots) in Chelsea, which is currently being refurbished. Their third and most recent acquisition is the Freemasons Arms in Covent Garden, which was previously operated by Shepherd Neame. It is also being refurbished and will reopen under the unique name the Bull & Egret. The privately funded company say that their mission is to ‘breathe life back into heritage-rich pubs that might otherwise fall by the wayside’ and that they are looking to make ‘further opportunistic acquisitions’ in London.
Oakman Group
Oakman operate some 30 pubs in the counties around London, although only one in London itself. The company suffered a serious setback in April when chief executive Peter Borg-Neal, who founded the company in 2007, had to step down because of ill health. Subsequently, ten pubs were sold to the Restaurant Group (TRG) who will integrate them into their Brunning & Price chain. Oakman’s remaining pubs, mostly leaseholds, are currently being marketed. Since the printed edition of this magazine went to press, the group has collapsed into administration. 14 pubs have been sold to Upham, 3 to McMullens whilst six have had to close.
Stonegate buyout
When Stonegate took over Enterprise Inns, it inherited a joint venture called Frontier Pubs, who operate 15 pubs in London. Stonegate have now bought out the other partners and will be absorbing Frontier’s pubs into its leased and tenanted division. For the year ended September 2024, Frontier had revenue of £11.6 million and a pre-tax profit of £353,000.
Meanwhile, Stonegate have sold and leased back a group of nine pubs in London. There have also been several individual sales. Full details of these sales can be found here.