TCG sale is “now off the agenda”

Talks were understood to be ongoing with a number of interested parties for the group, which was placed on the market last year, with a break up or sale of the whole business still options being discussed.

However, it was thought that principal backer Irish Bank Resolution Corporation, formerly Anglo Irish Bank, was in no rush to sell the group while interest payments are being served and remains confident in achieving what it sees as the underlying value of the business.

A number of TCG sites were sold last year, with Wear Inns buying a nine-strong package in May.

TCG chief operating officer Nigel Wright said: “The TCG management team have now agreed a further extension to the banking facilities and are about to start a new programme of CAPEX and other investment in the estate. The potential sale of the company, which dominated much of 2012, is now off the agenda, and we are able to focus on running our business and making sure that each of our pubs and bars is the very best in its local area.”

TCG reported a 2.5% rise in like-for-like sales in the four weeks to 1 January. It said the busiest days varied according to the type of business and its location.

“In the run up to Christmas, a number of TCG’s food led venues in London and the south east achieved record sales, while its Locals and Bars businesses led the way from 22 December onwards,” Wright said.

“With Christmas Day on the Tuesday, the overall trading period obviously moved back slightly compared to last year, which provided a superb week of double digit growth in the week up to Sunday 23 December.

“Pre-booked parties at our Henry’s Café Bars and other food-led sites delivered the big numbers in mid-December, while the real uplift in wet trade came closer to Christmas, with some bumper numbers on ‘mad Friday’.

This last Friday before the long break was a huge day across the whole business and was 140% up on the same day last year, as groups of office workers and tradesmen spilled into their local pub or bar for a traditional festive drink.”

TCG said several London sites, including Henry’s Café Bars and the Tattershall Castle floating pub on the Embankment, benefited from an early, co-ordinated drive for party bookings by a sales team recruited earlier in the year. Henry’s in Covent Garden achieved a record-breaking week ending 16 December. There was another surge on Boxing Day as the sales began. Outside London, Bar 38, located in Portsmouth’s Gunwharf Quays shopping centre, achieved an 84% uplift in the week ending 23 December.