Town & City Pub Co reaps rewards from value-for-money deals

Offering competitive food and drink deals to cash-strapped customers helped Town & City Pub Company (T&C) drive like-for-like turnover up by nearly 10 per cent in the year to February 28, 2010.

The group, which now operates 230 pubs and bars including the Yates's and Slug & Lettuce chains, said a "highly affordable drink and food proposition" had enabled it to push like-for-like sales up by 9.5 per cent, with total sales up by 59 per cent.

It said like-for-like sales over the crucial Christmas trading period were 8.1 per cent up on the previous year, plus it had seen a 40 per cent hike in bookings for the festive period.

On recent trading T&C said it had been given a boost by the World Cup, with sales during the tournament up 10.2 per cent year-on-year.

With its focus on highly competitive food and drink deals T&C often goes head-to-head with the likes of JD Wetherspoon on the nation's high streets to draw in punters from breakfast throughout the day and into the evening trading slots.

Examples of its 'all day everyday' offers include two meals for under £6, or a burger and drink for less than a fiver.

The group's chief executive Toby Smith is meanwhile on a mission to revamp the group's estate, with £11m of investment being pumped in over the course of the last year.

T&C recently rolled out a new look for its Slug & Lettuce operations following a trial in Chester, and is updating several sites across its existing brands, including some of its Litten Tree and Hogshead venues.

Smith said the group's results represented "a terrific performance given the economic backdrop and we will continue to evolve and invest in our business.

"We are excited about the addition of Slug and Lettuce and we remain optimistic for the rest of the year."

T&C, which was born out of the ashes of the Laurel Pub Company when the latter underwent a pre-pack administration two years ago, assumed control of Slug & Lettuce from its sister company, the Bay Restaurant Group, after its year end.

The group was a finalist in the large managed pub company category at this year's Publican​ awards.