Greene King closes two Loch Fyne restaurants

Greene King is to close two of its Loch Fyne restaurants.

The company has sold its Farnham site to Oakman Inns & Restaurants, while its Newcastle, Gosforth restaurant is to close its doors on 8 July.

In a trading update issued today, Oakman Inns said it had exchanged on the Farnham restaurant, which will be named The Lost Boy in recognition with the Surrey town's link to Peter Pan.

It will be the 25th pub for Oakman, which earlier this week won the Pub and Bar Award at the 2018 Catey Awards.

Chief executive Peter Borg-Neal said: "I have really fallen in love with the town and have been travelling back and forth trying to get this deal done because it is such a beautiful building in a truly wonderful location."

Regarding the closure of the Newcastle, Gosport restaurant, a spokesperson for Loch Fyne Seafood & Grill, said: "To continue investing in our estate, from time to time we have to make the difficult decision to close a restaurant.

"After much consideration, we have decided to close our Gosforth restaurant on Sunday 8 July. We would like to thank all our customers who visited over the years."

The sale and closure of the two restaurants takes Loch Fyne's estate to 27 sites.

In February this year, the Times reported that Greene King was attempting to sell the seafood restaurant chain, which at that time had 34 sites.

Greene King declined to comment on whether or not the business is up for sale.

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