Camerons Brewery, the Hartlepool-based brewer and pub operator, has acquired the seven-strong Head of Steam group, as it looks to triple its now c75-strong estate over the next three years.
The new outlets, including three of The Head of Steam sites in Newcastle, Durham and Huddersfield along with iconic Newcastle pubs The Cluny, The Cluny 2, Tilley’s and Central in Gateshead, were purchased via the brewery as it looks to develop its retail pub business across the North of England.
Head of Steam was founded by Tony Brookes. The deal doesn’t include company’s site in Liverpool.
Earlier this year, Camerons unveiled a new corporate identity, which is set to be rolled out to its pub estate during the rest of the year.
At the time, marketing manager Yousef Doubooni told M&C Report: “We’re on the acquisitions trail again. We are going to be looking to get new outlets to support this new brand identity. We want to grow from 67 to 200 [pubs] within the next three years.”
Camerons director and general manager, Christopher Soley said “We are delighted with these new additions. As a board one of our key strategic investment areas is the development of a quality, sustainable estate in both our managed and tenanted pub divisions. These new sites fit the criteria which we targeted, offering traditional cask ales, craft beers and world lagers”.
“The seven outlets will form part of our managed group of pubs. There are no imminent plans to change the great offer radically at these sites and will be looking to adopt many of their principles into our current estate”. This is the first step in developing our estate in size, quality and geography and we are looking for further sites that fit a similar model to The Head of Steam group both within our current estate and new opportunities”.
The company said that the purchase of the sites was supported by brewing partners Carlsberg UK as the two companies look to increase business together.
The deal was facilitated by Newcastle advisors Watson Burton and UNW.
