Brunning & Price, The Restaurant Group (TRG)-owned pub business, has acquired the freeholds of the two Surrey-based pubs operated by 3D Pub Company for an undisclosed sum.
The pubs, the Jolly Farmers and the Fox Revived, were originally purchased alongside funds from VCTs managed by Downing LLP, the investment management firm.
The two pubs, which were marketed through Christie + Co, are believed to have generated significant interest.
Jon Briscoe of 3D said and his wife Paula were ready for a new and exciting set of challenges, “many of which have started to come to us already”.
The Jolly Farmers is located on a high profile site on the A25, the main road out of Reigate to Dorking. The property is a characterful older style detached building which benefits from outside seating for up to 70 and a large restaurant for 140. In 2014 the pub was the winner of the Best Family Dining Pub 2014 at the Surrey Life Food & Drink Awards.
The Fox Revived is situated in a rural setting close to Horley and Gatwick Airport. The venue benefits from period features, a substantial garden and a restaurant seating 80 as well as a main bar area. Part of the plot is also considered suitable for potential planning consent.
Neil Morgan, director and national head of Pubs at Christie + Co, said: “We’re very pleased to have sold The Jolly Farmers and The Fox Revived. Significant interest was generated in the two pubs and we’re thrilled for Brunning & Price on their successful bid.”
Sam Archer, investment director at Downing LLP, said: “Exiting the investments we make on behalf of our funds is obviously an important part of their life cycle. We are well established investors within the pub sector and it has been a pleasure to back Jon and Paula Briscoe of 3D Pub Company over the past five years and to work alongside Christie & Co on this sale.”
Briscoe said: “The last five years have been a huge learning curve for us. Working alongside Downing LLP we were able to fund the freehold acquisition of both sites, a route that would have been impossible through traditional funding channels. We are now looking to take that learning to catapult us into a new and exciting set of challenges, many of which have started to come to us already, though we will of course miss our loyal teams, customers and suppliers. We’re extremely proud of what we have created, especially at The Jolly Farmers where we opened the UK’s first hybrid pub and farm shop, ‘Deli-Pub’ concept.”
Earlier this year Brunning & Price launched its first brunch menu across its c50-strong estate. The menu is served from 9am to 11:30am on both Saturdays and Sundays.
It has lined up The Bailiwick in Englefield Green, Surrey for its next conversion from its Home Counties estate to Brunning & Price.
