Agency boss buys Mendips freehouse

Davis Coffer Lyons (DCL) has acquired Mendips freehouse the Slab House Inn, near Wells, Somerset, on behalf of Stuart Le Gassick, one of the founding directors of aAIM, which manages commercial property investments for clients, including Sir Alex Ferguson and Simon Cowell.

Gassick has embarked on the private venture alongside celebrity chef Brian Turner, who appears regularly on Ready Steady Cook, This Morning and Saturday Kitchen, as well as overseeing the cooking at the Millennium Hotel, in Mayfair, and two Turner's Grill sites.

Turner will initially be working with Andy Jones who is the current head chef at the Slab House Inn.

Chris Bickle, of Davis Coffer Lyons, said: "Stuart wanted a freehold pub with reasonable grounds and buildings near his country home in Somerset. Stuart plans to open this business with Brian and may introduce a catering school on the grounds. DCL is actively looking for similar sites to roll out this emerging concept."

Brian Turner said: "It's certainly early days. We don't know how many sites we want yet, but we are seriously looking at operating a small, branded chain of freehold pubs in the West Country.

"I'm a caterer and he's a property man, so I think between us we're going to have the best of both worlds."

Le Gassick has instructed DCL to find more high quality, destination freehouses in the south-west.

The pub trades over the ground floor, with a public bar and restaurant and four-bedroom accommodation above. The building sits in two acres of garden space and the grounds offer views of the surrounding countryside. Recent accounts show that turnover is in the region of £630,000 a year, split 70% food sales, 30% wet sales.

The current owners, who have been there for seven years, are looking to retire. The pub was purchased off an asking price of £1.25m.