City Pub Group announces plans for four more openings

City Pub Group has announced the acquisition of three London pubs and the exchange of contracts on a fourth site in Brighton.

The group has acquired the Travellers Friend in Woodford as well as two Jam Tree pubs in Chelsea and Clapham and exchanged on a seafront café-style bar in Brighton.

The £8.1m spending spree takes City Pub Group to 41 sites, with plans to reach a portfolio of 50 properties by the end of the year.

The Travellers Friend was acquired from private owners in an off-market transaction, while the leaseholds for the Jam Tree sites were taken over from a small independent pub company and the Brighton site follows the agreement of a long leasehold with Brighton City Council.

Clive Watson (pictured), chairman of the company, said: "The purchase of these pubs demonstrates City Pub Group's broad acquisition network. All fit our criteria and will sit well alongside our existing sites. The Travellers Friend, the two Jam Tree sites along with the new Brighton seafront venue will help position the business for future growth and expansion in 2019. The existing trading estate further underpins our expectations for 2018.

"Our pipeline remains strong with further deals currently being appraised. Our strong balance sheet will enable us to capitalise on these. We are now being offered pubs from many sources and we are able to transact at attractive prices in a buyer's market.

"We are confident that we will own [around] 50 pubs by the end of this year, ahead of the plan set at IPO and have the potential to continue to grow the estate faster than planned."

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