Everards sells 14 pubs to Hawthorn

The community pubs are based in predominantly suburban and neighbourhood areas in the East Midlands.

This comes after Hawthorn CEO Mark Davies told The Morning Advertiser ​the company was eyeing expansion to at least double its estate​ off the back of its announcement to float on the stock market earlier this month.

Less than a fortnight ago, he said future expansion was something Hawthorn is looking at, with ambition to increase its estate significantly.

“There will be natural thresholds that we will be targeting as a management team,” Davies said.

“We are 700 or so pubs today, we would like to get to 1,000 pubs at some point soon and we can probably get there quite quickly.

“Longer term, we could at least double the size of the platform from there or possibly go even further.

“We will be patient, opportunistic where we can be but we are ambitious and dynamic and the management team can do deals. That's how we built Hawthorn to what it is today so all of that is recognised.”

Seamless transaction

Hawthorn’s 700-strong estate comprises leased, tenanted and operator managed sites.

On the acquisition of the new sites, Davies said: “We are really pleased to announce the purchase of 14 high-quality community pubs from Everards.

“All the pubs, which are fully let, have been very well operated by Everards and its business owners and we share a strong community ethos with Everards that makes this a seamless transaction for both parties.

“It’s been great to get to know Stephen Gould and the Everards team through the transaction and to get a deal done during lockdown.

“The relationship we have built and partnership formed is something that will benefit both companies in the future.

“My team and I are looking forward to meeting the business owners and welcoming them to Hawthorn.”

Continued investment

Prior to the deal, Everards, which was founded in 1849, had more than 175 pubs across the East Midlands.

Its latest venue – Everards Meadows in near Enderby in Leicestershire, houses the business’ new brewery alongside a coffee house in several acres of countryside.

On the deal, Everards managing director Stephen Gould said: “Following a review of our pub estate, we presented 14 pubs as an acquisition opportunity to Mark and his team and are pleased to get a deal done during lockdown.

“The whole team at Hawthorn have been a delight to work with and I know our business owners will be in good hands, working with a company with similar values to our own.

“The deal positions Everards well for continued investment into our pub estate, acquisitions and Everards Meadows – our 90-acre leisure and tourism development in Leicestershire.”