Wickwar Wessex, the West Country based brewery and pub operator, has secured its tenth site, The Punch Bowl in Bristol, MCA has learnt.
The managed site, on Old Market Street, is being converted into the group’s alehouse concept, with real ale sold for £2.70 a pint, and a home-cooked traditional pub menu.
Head of marketing Abi Brown told MCA the high street pub, which was a historic wine and spirit merchant, would be similar to The Gloucester Road Ale House and Jersey Lily, also both in Bristol.
The group, headed up by industry veterans Mike Flavin, Ian Frost and Michael Watts, who formerly worked together at Avebury Taverns before selling to Punch in 2005, is on the lookout for further sites in the region.
Brown told MCA: “We have big expansion plans, and are always on the lookout for new sites. We will focus on our heartland in the South West – Bristol, Gloucester, the Cotswolds.”
The group has four concepts, an ale house and kitchen, with £2.70 ales and quality food offering; small community pubs, predominately wet led in villages and towns; small wet-led taverns; and food destination pubs.
The directors previously told MCA they wanted to create a vertically integrated brewing company complete with a tenanted estate and were actively looking to make a group acquisition to begin building this in the southwest.
