There’s plenty to read in the report – and not just the Top 100 Pubcos list where you will find the number of sites each of the powerhouses have but also who is in charge and where they are headquartered.
In one section, The Morning Advertiser deputy editor Nikkie Thatcher looks at the macro scene in terms of the pubco market and innovation within the UK.
Citing data from insights expert CGA by NIQ, she shows the trends in sales throughout the first half of 2025 that began with a fall in sales for managed hospitality groups in January 2025 – marking the lowest figure from the insight expert’s Hospitality Business Tracker since April 2024 AND only the second month of negative trading since early 2022.
Exclusive survey results
We look at innovations in pubco game from Marston’s to Greene King and from Admiral Taverns to Stonegate Group.
An exclusive survey from The Morning Advertiser has unveiled some great insight too.
For example, the majority of survey respondents appear to run their pubs with a low number of employees. Some 26% have between one and five members of staff and 23% have six to 10 employees.
Some 8% of those surveyed said they have more than 40 members of staff while 2% said they have no employees – suggesting the operator works alone.
Big six managed models
And while the pub ‘down the road’ would have been seen as a major threat in years gone by, a whopping 38.1% of pub chiefs say competition from fellow operators is ‘not much’ of a concern and even 13.7% believe rivals are of no threat at all.
There’s some superb research by trade adviser Phil Dixon who has looked at the managed models of the ‘big six’ pubcos and explains the set-ups each of those is using currently.
And, of course, we have the rundown of the The MA Top 100 Pubcos list. Sure, you can probably guess which of the biggest operators are at the top of the tree but you may be surprised to see who else makes the list – and with M&A and opening activity going on all the time, there’s no chance the list will stay the same for 2026.
