Peach Pub Company vows to get 22 pubs

Peach Pub Company, the 14-strong Oxfordshire-based group, has vowed to reach its goal of operating 22 pubs by 2013, as it reported a 7% rise in sales so far this year.

Co-founder Lee Cash told PubChef that the company was hoping to secure some of the potential new sites in London, if the right venues can be sourced.

Due to the way that Peach works, with one partner looking after "pods" of up to four or five pubs, the new sites will not be far from existing pubs.

To reach the goal of 22, Cash expects to have six or seven partners, up from the current five. He said: "The most important part is sourcing the right people.

"In the end I want there to be six or seven people who can all sit around a table

and get on."

The group's 14th site, Enterprise Inns pub the White Horse in Harpenden, Hertfordshire, opened in May after a minor refurbishment and is already serving 1,000 covers a week.

Peach took over from the previous owners Urban & Country Leisure.

Freehold the Richard Onslow in Cranleigh, Surrey, launched last year under new partner John Taylor.

It reopened at the beginning of July with 10 newly-refurbished en-suite letting bedrooms and an extended kitchen following an £80,000 investment.

It is the first venture south of London and Cash says that if the partnership goes well, there could be more Peach pubs opening in the Surrey area.

At the same time, Corin Earland, former senior head chef at the Almanack in Kenilworth, Warwickshire, has been promoted to group senior head chef and now works with suppliers and on menu ideas at the firm.

The kitchen team at each pub is still in control over each menu.