Christie + Co reports 12% rise in pub sales

Christie + Co has reported a 12% year-on-year rise in pub transactions, with regional brewers and established local operators taking advantage of lower values and less competition from national pubcos.

The figures relate to the first three months of 2009, where there were more than 150 individual pub sales. The licensed property agent anticipates completed sales will top 120 in April.

Christe + Co said freehold pubs have continued to attract strong demand while managed to leased conversion numbers have also proved "healthy", showing there's "still an appetite for tied lease opportunities".

The alternative-use market is also "stable". Usual buyers such as restaurant operators are being supplemented by convenience store operators in the demand for sites.

Christie + Co head of pubs Neil Morgan said: "The increase in the number of pub transactions we have witnessed at the start of the year compared to the same period last year, when the full impact of the credit crunch was still to be realised, shows that people's appetite to acquire and run a pub is still strong despite the difficulties the sector is currently faced with.

"As we predicted at the start of the year, the demand for quality freeholds has remained strong with regional brewers, cash-rich individuals and established local operators replacing the national pub estate owners and taking advantage of lower values to expand their estates. The shift to more realistic prices has also attracted opportunistic buyers into the market place.

"The pub sector was one of the first in the UK to be affected by the credit crunch, which impacted the market on the back of the smoking ban and the rise in alcohol duty.

"Come mid-2008 the deal market was driven by '3Ds': debt, death and divorce. While we are far from the road to recovery, we are seeing the first signs that a fourth D — desire — is making a slow return."