Thu 31st Oct 2013 - Bramwell Pub Company placed in administration Bramwell Pub Company placed in administration: Bramwell Pub Company, which operates 180 leasehold pubs, has been placed in administration today, just over 13 months after it was formed out of Barracuda Pub Company. A total of 18 sites were left behind when the new company was formed at the start of October 2012. But the administration is an indication that the number was not high enough, and the company ended up running too many sites with onerous lease terms. Around 25 sites will shut immediately, and the property agent Christie & Co will begin to market them. The remainder of the estate will remain open and trading during the administration process. Industry sources suggest Stonegate Pub Company is the most likely buyer of the company’s best venues, although it is thought this number may only be around the 80-site mark. When Bramwell Pub Company was formed last year, Varde Investment Partners provided a new £10m facility to invest and a total of £66.7m of debt was cleared. However, loss-making sites seem to have hampered efforts to re-position the estate. Bramwell is led by the former Mitchells & Butlers executive Roger Moxham, who had hoped that as many as 100 of the company's sites could be moved to a more aspirational market position, under a brand called Wild Lime Bar and Kitchen, to avoid direct competition on the high street with JD Wetherspoon. Moxham told Propel in the summer: “We have big, capable competition in JD Wetherspoon, which is now doing both late-night and sport, which means our traditional position has come under pressure. There is a second set of customers who are looking for more than value – value is very important to them but they also want innovation. There are a half a dozen businesses in the sector looking at variants of this – Pitcher & Piano, Loungers and Be At One, for example. The high street market is starting to re-energise itself with innovation. We have identified 100 sites in Bramwell that are suitable for Wild Lime and the sensible capital budget [for these sites] gives us the confidence to start talking about 100 potential sites.” Three sites were converted to the brand during the summer. If Stonegate buys 80 or so Bramwell pubs it will expand to around 650 sites, leaving it 230 or so behind JD Wetherspoon, but in clear second place in the high street wet-led market. But a deal would also confirm Stonegate’s position as the key force for consolidation in the managed pub market where a number of small and medium-sized operators, such as Inventive Leisure, TCG and Orchid, are owned either by banks or private equity firms. In August, Stonegate’s chairman, Ian Payne, told Propel that the company’s backer, the private equity firm TDR Capital, has funding in place to grow the business further, and the company was looking at every package of pub sites that comes on the market. Stonegate has grown to 573 sites after the acquisition in August of the 13-strong Living Room brand. Administrators of the Bramwell estate are Zolfo Cooper.