Stonegate to move 100 more pubs to Pub Partners

Estate changes: Stonegate to move 100 more pubs to Pub Partners
Estate changes: Stonegate to move 100 more pubs to Pub Partners (Stonegate Pub Partners)

Stonegate Group has identified around 100 further pubs to transfer into its Pub Partners business as part of its ongoing estate transformation strategy.

The UK’s largest pub company said the move followed a comprehensive review of its estate and formed part of efforts to ensure each site was in the right operating model.

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A Stonegate spokesperson told The Morning Advertiser (MA): “Stonegate Group is continuing its well-established transformation strategy.

“Following a comprehensive review of our estate, we have identified a further circa 100 sites that will transition to our Pub Partners business.”

Team consultation

Stonegate said the move would reduce the size of its managed estate and had led to consultation over proposed changes within its support teams.

The spokesperson added: “Our strong performance, including a record half year of profit growth in the first six months of this year, continues to demonstrate the success of our strategy, ensuring that every site is positioned for success, in the right operating model.

“As a result of operating a smaller managed estate, we are entering consultation on a number of proposed changes within our support teams.

“We recognise this brings uncertainty for those affected, and we are fully committed to communicating directly with impacted colleagues and supporting them throughout the process.”

Estate reshaping

The move builds on Stonegate’s wider shift towards leased, tenanted and operator-led models, after the group converted its 200th pub in 2025 and said earlier this year it would invest £30m into Pub Partners sites in 2026.

It also comes after Fuller’s yesterday (8 September) announced it had exchanged contracts to acquire 10 pubs in a £35.25m deal involving Stonegate and an institutional property investment company.

The transaction included four freehold and six leasehold properties, with nine of the pubs in London and one in Bath.

Stonegate said at the time the sale formed part of its ongoing transformation strategy and that it was exploring opportunities that created value for the group.

The latest Pub Partners move also comes after the Pubs Code Adjudicator launched a formal investigation into Stonegate’s treatment of tied tenants in July.

The regulator said it would examine whether Stonegate gave current and prospective tied tenants clear and accurate information between July 2021 and July 2026, although it stressed it had not reached any conclusions on whether the pubco had breached the Pubs Code.