Craft Union Pubco opens doors of 5 pubs after £1m investment

Sites to reopen include the Punchbowl in Spalding, the Old House at Home in Maidstone, the Talbot in Warsop, Ye Old Swan in Barnham and the Kings Head in Ilkeston.

Stonegate Pub Company successfully acquired Ei Group in March of this year for £1.27bn, and now contains Craft Union under its managed pubs division of ‘traditional (unbranded)’ sites.

Frazer Grimbleby, operations director of Craft Union, said: “I am hugely excited to be opening all five of these sites, following their fantastic transformations. The operations team and I were determined that we would get them up and running, and ready to serve their communities safely as soon as possible after lockdown, and I’m really happy with what we have achieved.”

Opportunity to improve

The refurbishments are part of the company’s capital investment programme. 

Grimbleby added: “We recognise the importance of investment in our sites and strive to create the best possible atmosphere and environments for our customers. We were not going to let the lockdown get in the way of this, seeing it as an opportunity to make improvements and reflect on all of our businesses.”

It comes as pubco giant JD Wetherspoon (JDW) opened a new pub in Leeds this week (Tuesday 21 July) after a £2.6m investment in refurbishing the site.

Elsewhere, pub operator and brewer Robinsons announced it was reopening a pub after its refurbishment was prolonged because of the coronavirus lockdown. It invested £1m into the Flower Pot in Macclesfield, which took three months to renovate.