London Town reopening 38 pubs
London Town, which has an estate of 205 tenanted pubs and 61 managed pubs, has reopened 30 closed pubs this year — and has eight more it will reopen before the end of the year.
The company's new chief executive Billy Buchanan has revealed that the company was struggling with 50 closed pubs at the end of
last year.
Buchanan, who has 24 Punch leases and 14 Enterprise leases in his managed division, said: "We have been putting in place significant support for tenants where it is needed.
"As tenants of Enterprise and Punch, we know what they're offering and not offering tenants — we've been very proactive.
"(Being tenants of Punch and Enterprise) is another good reason why we're a good company to be with (for our tenants) as we see both sides of the equation.
"This gives us a good understanding of the pressures being faced by tenants.
"We see Retail Price Index (RPI) rent increases going on (in our pubco leases) every year.
"Some of our leases allow us to increase rent by RPI for our tenants.
"We always do that if the lease allows it, but we will consider the increase and other factors when considering what help we need to give to some of our tenants." London Town plans to offer its expertise to third-party pub owners at reopening pubs.
"It costs between £30,000 and £50,000 a year to
keep a pub closed, what with weekly internal and external inspections, the cost of shuttering and rates," said Buchanan.
London Town has reported a loss of £5.2m for the six months to 30 June, reflecting "difficult trading conditions".
The group reported that revenues had increased to £13.3m — up from £5.6m last year — due to the acquisition of 60 pubs from GRS Inns in January.
Ebitda in the leased estate was down to £2.1m from £2.5m on last year as a result of a number of closures, disposals and transfers to the managed estate.
