Enterprise to expand managed pub outlets

Enterprise Inns, which has just under 5,200 outlets, plans to expand its number of managed pubs from just 16 to up to 850 outlets. These pubs are owned by the group, rather than an individual landlord.

The Solihull-based firm will boost the number of commercial properties, run by landlords without a beer tie, to around 1,000 pubs from 185 outlets currently. The rest of the group’s estate are leased or tenanted.

The ending of the beer tie allows tenanted pub landlords to break the link with their pub group, leaving them free to search for more competitive beer contracts.

The group said that for every tenanted landlord that ends the beer tie the group would see increased rent, but “it is possible that our total income would be adversely affected by this amendment”.

It added that in 2016 it expects to see the beer tie ended at 200 pubs, rising to up to 600 a year after that.

The group currently runs 16 pubs managed by two other firms, the Bermondsey Pub Company and Craft Union Pub Company, and plans to expand these outlets.

It has also struck a deal with the founder of Geronimo Inns, Robert Cleverly, to manage outlets, with the first set to open in the second half of this year.