Urban Pubs & Bars is looking to take its first steps outside London, as the company reports double-digit sales growth.

Founded by Nick Pring and Malcolm Heap, the business has grown to a 42-strong estate after 10 years operating.

Pring told The Morning Advertiser: “There will be a time when Urban Pubs & Bars looks to capitalise on its position, the infrastructure we have and seek out opportunities outside of London.

“We are tentatively looking at that now and the longer-term plan for Urban Pubs & Bars will be to grow outside of London.

“We will find some good places outside of London, three of our offers could work in cities outside of London and our Urban Locals like the Wheatsheaf [in Tooting Bec] and the Cyclist [in Balham], there is loads of scope for those in large and small cities in the London commuter band.”

Pring was speaking after the company reported financial results for the year to 30 April 2023, with turnover of £23.2m, and underlying profit of £1m.

In the 34 weeks of the current financial year, Urban increased sales by 18.5%, boosted by three new sites, The Junction in Angle, The Railway in Putney and The Victory at Waterloo Station.

Over Christmas, the group saw underlying sales growth of 19.1%, with year-to-date EBITDA 4% ahead of budget.

The group previsuly acquired 13 sites from Barworks in 2021 alongside a number of other sites including the opening of Fleets near St Paul’s, Nest in Bishopsgate and the Black Horse in Fitzrovia since.

Discussing to the potential for future growth, Pring said the business is open to a variety of options.

“We’ll do both [single site acquisitions and group acquisitions]. The good thing is we don’t have to run things through big committees, it’s myself and Malc. If we see site or sites that we think fit the mould of our company, we will move quickly. “[We have] private equity, who are 50/50 with us. It might be small multiples it might be individual sites, as long as it works for us.”

On the business approach and strategy for growth, Pring told the MA: “One of the things Malc and I have always done, in previous businesses and this one, culturally it runs through the business, is we are very sharp with all our managerial costs, they are constantly reviewed.

“In terms of top line, we are constantly striving to be better. Part of the mantra within the company, whenever we have a good week is we can always do it better.

“That’s the philosophy we put on ourselves and throughout the company. We never want to rest on our laurels, there are always new people coming into the marketplace. We are all out in the trade a lot and we encourage people to see what’s going on.

“If you’re not aware of the competition, it will go past you and it’ll be too late.”

Pring continued that strong sales have been driven by positive estate expansion.

Pring said: “We’ve got a very strong balance sheet at the moment and we have got a good facility with the bank.

“If we see an opportunity we can go out and buy it. That gives us a competitive advantage to others because we can move quickly and close deals very quickly.

“We have a good reputation for closing deals. We get loads of stuff across our desks and it feels at the moment like this year there is going to be quite a bit of pain.”

On the group’s targets and structure, he added: “We’ve got a magic number internally. We have got an idea of where we think we can get to in the coming years but fundamentally for people from the outside looking in, is to expect us to be very acquisitive,” he added.

“We spent a lot of time last year putting in a head office structure that is cemented in. We have headroom now to take on multiple sites.

“We are in a good place to acquire multiple pubs at the moment and that’s how we see 2024 working for us.”

That head office structure included the appointment of Chris Hill as managing director last spring.

Hill was formerly chief executive at New World Trading Company and Rooney Anand’s investment vehicle RedCat.

Pring said: “Chris has been a real driving force in the business. Internal comms have improved, [he has] brought a real rigour to everything we do and it’s been great to see.

“It genuinely feels he extols all the same values Malc and I have.”