City Pub Company acquires three pubs and makes two appointments
The City Pub Company Group has acquired three new pubs and created two new senior management roles.
The business is owned and run by Capital Pub Company founders Clive Watson and David Bruce. Capital Pub Company was sold to Greene King for £93m in 2011.
City Pub Company's new acquisitions include the Lighthouse in Battersea, the Roundhouse in Wandsworth and the Metropolitan in Bath.
The southern-England based City Pub Company also announced the creation and appointment of two new company chief executives, Alex Derrick as chief executive of City Pub Company West and Rupert Clark as chief executive of City Pub Company East.
Both Derrick and Clark were previously at the Capital Pub Company Plc, before it was bought by Greene King, with Derrick as operations director, and Clark as operations manager.
Clive Watson, City Pub Company group chief executive (and former founder of the Capital Pub Company) said: "We have made substantial progress over the last few months and the City Pub Company Group is well on course to meet our target of 20 sites by the end of 2014."
He added: "The appointment of Alex and Rupert is a huge plus for The City Pub Company and I am delighted that they have come on board to work alongside me. They are very experienced pub retailers and their appointments to their respective companies will give them focus to develop and expand these. They both understand the entrepreneurial culture required of running and developing a small pub chain of independent free houses."
The company also confirmed it is on track to raise its target of £10m through two EIS schemes this year - having already secured £9.6m. A further £10m will be raised through EIS fundraising in 2014, to finance further expansion of the estate.
Watson said: "Our EIS fundraising has been very successful and gives us the confidence and financial backing to continue acquiring fantastic pubs, such as the ones announced today. The appointments [of Derrick and Clark] will allow me to focus more time on finding new premium sites across Southern England and obtaining further investment to finance our future expansion."
