Oakman Inns plans to double
Oakman Inns, the multi-site operator founded by entrepreneur Peter Borg-Neal, is poised to double in size to six sites after securing £2.25m in bank debt.
Borg-Neal, 49, who has worked for Whitbread, Taylor Walker and founded the Forno Vivo Italian restaurant brand which was acquired by Yates, set up Oakman at the end of 2007.
The company, which has two commercial leases and a Punch Taverns site, is averaging £93,000 a week in net takings across its first three sites.
Its biggest site is Punch's Red Lion at Water End, near Hemel Hempstead, Herts, a former Chef & Brewer.
The company has now bought the commercial lease Kings Arms Hotel in Berk-hamstead, Herts, a site that will see a £1m investment — it will re-open in November.
Oakman has two more sites lined up, one in Witney and one in Woodbridge. The Witney site is a freehold costing £1.45m that will see a £1.2m investment. The latter, a pub called the Cherry Tree, is a Punch Tavern's site where the company has teamed up with two chefs and is planning to launch a new concept called British Larder.
"I've found Punch excellent to work with," said Borg-Neal. "We've built a very strong balance sheet in the business investing around £2.2m of equity and directors loans. The banks are lending — Nat West is providing around £2.25m to fund the next stage."
The Red Lion is the company's busiest site taking £40,000-plus a week net. Oakman's other two existing sites are the Old Post Office at Wallingford, Oxon, and the Akeman in Tring, Hertfordshire.
