Pizza, Pots & Pints expands with three new sites

Sites in Nottingham, Leicester and Loughborough will be opened under the managed pub concept in the coming months.

The brewer acquired a handful of sites from the independent pub group the Orange Tree last year, as part of its plans to expand the pizza concept to 25 sites over the next few years.

Its first East Midlands’ site, the Playwright, in Nottingham, will open next week on Thursday 23 May after an extensive refurbishment.

It is the seventh site in the concept, with the portfolio set to grow to nine sites when the pubs in Leicester and Loughborough open later in the year.

While the site has undergone radical changes, including 100 covers and two event spaces, many of the site’s previous employees were retained, with a team of 20 staff.

Accelerated growth

Charles Wells operations director Benjamin Smith said: “We’re delighted to announce the opening of the first of our Pizza, Pots & Pints managed pubs in the region.

“The acquisition of the Orange Tree pubs last year gave us the opportunity to accelerate the growth of our managed estate, making the launch of the Playwright a real milestone for us.

“We’re looking forward to introducing Nottingham locals to the Charles Wells’ family ethos and continuing our expansion into the East Midlands throughout 2019.”

Commercial director Peter Wells told The Morning Advertiser​ the plan for the brand was to acquire as many sites “as we can lay our hands on”, earlier this year.​

He added:  “A lot of the Pizza, Pots & Pints sites are in backstreet areas and are there for people to discover almost by accident.”

The concept launched with the opening of the Salisbury Arms site in Cambridge in 2015.