Former Wear Inns pubs on the market

A portfolio of pubs owned by real estate investment firm Aprirose has entered into administration, with the 25 sites now on the market.

Administration firm Interpath is running the pubs until it can find a buyer for the sites, which are made up of the former Wear Inns estate.

Aprirose acquired Wear Inns in 2018 for £22.4m via its Milton Porfolio Holdings 3

Wear Inns, which was founded by pub entrepreneurs John Weir and John Sands in 2006, was liquidated in 2019.

Ryan Grant and Howard Smith from Interpath Advisory were appointed joint administrators to Milton Portfolio Op Co 3 earlier this week (13 November 2023).

At the same time, Grant and Smith were appointed joint Law of Property Act (LPA) receivers over 25 properties owned by Milton Portfolio Property 3 Limited.

Milton Portfolio Op Co 3 was the operator of the 25 pubs in locations across the north-east and Yorkshire.

The joint administrators will continue to trade all 25 sites while they seek a buyer for the business and its assets.

Consequently, all circa 264 members of staff have been retained by the joint administrators to assist with trading.

A further collection of pubs operated by related company Blackrose is not believed to be affected.

Ryan Grant, managing director at Interpath Advisory, said: “This is a portfolio of profitable, strong-performing and established pubs, comprising 21 freeholds and four long leaseholds, located across the north-east of England and Yorkshire.

“We will be appointing selling agents in due course, with a view to bringing the portfolio to market at the optimum time to realise maximum value for creditors.”

The list of sites are: