Perfect time to get into accommodation

Now is the perfect time for licensees to improve their share of the lodging sector — that's according to experts at leading licensed property agents Christie + Co.

Faced with the harshest recession in years, pub operators are diversifying their offer and while many pubs have focused on food, others are considering adding letting rooms.

"With the UK set to see an increase in domestic holidaymakers and business travellers trading down in the face of the economic slowdown, the next 12 months could provide the pub sector with the perfect opportunity to grow its market share of the lodging sector and offset predicted further falls in drinks sales," said James Shorthouse, head of valuations and special projects at Christie + Co.

In the last year many pub companies have announced increased spending on accommodation: Punch Taverns will add 1,000 rooms to its estate of Good Night Inns, the Spirit Group's budget lodging business; Young's will invest £30m in adding 470 rooms over the next three to five years; Fuller Smith & Turner will add 140 rooms to the 500 already in its pub estate; Merchant Inns operates seven pubs with rooms and plans a £200m investment to open 40 to 50 pubs with "luxury budget" rooms; JD Wetherspoon has acquired a number of hotels in market towns. It has 13 "Wetherlodges" in its estate.

Urban Inns and Bulldog Pub Company also plan to add rooms to their estates.

Shorthouse added: "Accommodation can attract customers looking for something with character, rather than what may be perceived as soulless national-chain offerings."