Nick Pring and Malcolm Heap to leave Greene King tomorrow: The founders of Realpubs, Nick Pring and Malcolm Heap, are to leave Greene King tomorrow, two years after the Suffolk brewer and retailer acquired its 14 sites. The day of their departure sees the re-opening of The Grove in Ealing in the Reapubs format, the eighth conversion undertaken in the two-year integration period overseen by Pring and Heap. It is not known what Pring and Heap plan to do next but it is thought they will remain the sector. The next Greene King conversion will be The Grove in Surbiton, where work has begun prior to opening on 17 May. Greene King is also thought to be looking at acquisitions to add to its Realpubs estate. The departure of Pring and Heap will come three months after John Winder and Gary Douglas stepped down from the Cloverleaf pub restaurant business that Greene King acquired in January 2011. The expansion of Realpubs by Greene King since acquisition will mean it will have out-stripped both Loch Fyne and Cloverleaf in terms of site conversion numbers in the two-year post acquisition period. Greene King has also successfully expanded Realpubs’ trading locations with an opening in a Zone One London site last September – The King Stores in Bishopsgate. Other pubs within the Greene King estate converted to Realpubs include The Island Bar and Dining Room in Kensal Rise, a former Capital Pub Company site. Realpubs was sold to Greene King by management and Brockton Capital for £53.1m.

Hall & Woodhouse freezes prices for the fifth year running: Dorset based family brewer Hall & Woodhouse has frozen the wholesale prices of its draught cask ale to licensees for the fifth year running. The company is also setting aside a £3 million budget to refurbish and repair pubs in its tenanted estate. Seven pubs have already enjoyed extensive refurbishments, to the combined value of £700,000, including The Harbour Inn, Axmouth and Barley Mow, Wimborne. Matt Kearsey, Hall & Woodhouse business partnerships director, said: “We are continuing our firm commitment to both cask ale and our business partners with these announcements. Not only are we ensuring that the feel-good factor of the budget continues, we’re also investing in the future of Hall & Woodhouse pubs.”

Drinks wholesaler goes into administration: A wholesaler of alcoholic and soft drinks turning over £12m per annum, based in Tameside, greater Manchester, has slipped into administration. Metropolitan Drinks Company, which was based in Dukinfield, supplied drinks to pubs, restaurants and nightclubs in the Greater Manchester area. It was founded in July 2005 and posted turnover of £7.3m in the year to September 2010, increasing to £12m in the 16 months to the end of 2011. Despite the revenue rise, the company posted a loss of £113,903 in that 16-month period with higher losses expected to come, according to administrators. Jason Elliott and Craig Johns, from the Manchester office of financial services firm Cowgill Holloway, have been appointed joint administrators. A statement from Cowgill Holloway said: “Subsequent losses are anticipated to be substantially higher. In March 2013, an external investor injected approximately £45,000 into the business. However, this has not alleviated creditor pressure. Furthermore, a number of creditors had elected to exercise their reservation of title clauses and recover unpaid stock and a number of customer orders were therefore not being fulfilled. As a result, the company could not continue to trade in its current form.” Administrators secured a pre-packaged sale of the stock and physical assets of the company to an unnamed shareholder.