William Robinson, the joint-managing director of Robinsons, has told M&C the company’s new-style tenancy agreements have been now been taken up by almost a quarter of its tenants.
The company brought in the tenancy innovations last year with three pricing structures and including elements such as drinks discounts based on local competition, no mid-term rent reviews and a variety of support packages.
Robinson told M&C that c80 tenants from across the 340-strong estate have now taken on a version of the agreement and feedback has been good.
He said: “People like the support and the clarity of rent over five years. We have worked a discount scheme into it, which we haven’t had historically, and that is obviously attractive for many, particularly the community pubs. It’s part of an overall evolution of the tenanted package, not just the agreement.”
The company also continues to grow its fledgling managed house division. The Airport Pub & Grill opened at the end of January and work is currently underway at both the Bulls’ Head in the village of Hale Barns, near Altrincham in Great Manchester and The Royal Ship, in Dolgellau, Gwynedd, in Wales. The former is expected to open in September and the latter by the beginning of 2016.
The company is also planning to convert the Mulberry in Conwy, Wales into a managed house with work due to begin in the autumn for an early 2016 re-opening.
Robinson said there were no targets for growing the managed estate and it would depend on the suitability of sites.
On the performance of the Airport, he said: “It has been doing very well. We’ve got a great team in there. It’s a very unique site which does a decent trade even on a rainy day but when the sun comes out it’s absolutely packed. We are getting much more confident and adept at handling those days. You are talking about a doubling of turnover between an average day and a really good day and that’s not from a low base, so there’s a real skill to handling that.”
Robinsons plans to spend £23m over the next five years refurbishing 179 pubs. He said the company was on track to complete 35 refurbishments this year and he expected that level to continue over the five-year period.
On disposal and acquisitions, he said: “We have continued, as many have, to take out the pubs that don’t fit with the tenanted model anymore. When we see a site and think another operator may be able to come in and make this work under a different model then we are only too happy to do that, but I’m afraid it is the minority that remain as pubs.
“We will acquire new sites if they are a good fit for the estate but we don’t have any targets we need to hit in that respect.”
