Portobello Starboard’s latest acquisition of six pubs gives it scale around the South Coast to acquire further properties in the region, chairman Mark Crowther has told MCA.
The pub acquisition vehicle, which is backed by Portobello Brewery and Zetland Capital, acquired five sites from City Pub Company last week, as well as an additional pub in Worthing.
The acquisition gives Portobello five pubs on the South Coast, including three in Brighton (Walrus, Brighton Beach Club, and Lion and Lobster), The Inn on the Beach on Hayling Island and The Travellers Friend in Woodford Green, Essex.
Portobello has also completed on the acquisition of the Grand Victorian pub in Worthing from Dominion Hospitality, an affiliate of Stellex Capital Management.
Crowther told MCA said the company would continue to trade the large, well-invested managed pubs for now, before some possible repositioning after Easter.
He said: “The combination of the six really kicks us on and starts giving us a bit of scale now.
“The individual pubs are really high quality, big freehold managed pubs, near the beach in Brighton - what’s not to like?
“We complete in a couple of weeks’ time, and bearing in mind we’re looking down the barrel of Easter, our plan in the short term is to just trade, get to know the businesses, get to know the teams, and then there may be a bit of repositioning of a couple of them
“Essentially, these are good, solid, managed pubs that we can just take on quite easily.”
As well as introduce its Portobello beers, the company will look to get additional Sussex ales on the taps.
Crowther said he would use the cluster of sites as a platform for further growth.
“My plan was always London, along the M3, and down to the south coast,” he said.
“Now we’ve established a strong presence in Brighton and Worthing, we will certainly look to infill, and also in between the coast and London.
“We’ve got a few more individual sites we’re looking at the moment. Zetland are super excited by it. The money’s there to do it which is great.”
Crowther said the City Pub Co sites were “fuller formed and ready to go” and would require no immediate investment.
The Worthing pub will require significant investment, with a plan to spend as much on refurbishing it as was spent buying the pub itself, turning the old nightclub next door into accommodation.
“It’s a good example of one where we want to invest capex in it to take it to the next level,” Crowther added.
