Details emerge of Tragus CVA: The details of new Tragus rent agreements with its landlords under its Company Voluntary Arrangements (CVA) have emerged. The new arrangements won the backing of 85 to 90% of landlords on Friday, paying the way for a reduction in debt levels at the Café Rouge operator. Under the terms of the CVA, administered by Zolfo Cooper, a total of 150 properties are being retained at current rents, which will be paid monthly as opposed to quarterly for the CVA period only. A further 19 properties will be retained but with rent reduced to 60% of current levels, which will be paid monthly as opposed to quarterly for a period of two years. Some 32 properties will have rent reduced to 50% of current levels for a period of three months, which will be paid monthly as opposed to quarterly. A compromise payment will be made to landlords where rents levels have been reduced. Tragus has agreed a financial restructuring to reduce its debt burden by around £263m and put in place new term loan facilities. On Friday, Tragus Group chief executive Steve Richards said: “We are pleased that creditors have accepted our proposals to create a more operationally efficient business. The future looks bright for Tragus and we are now able to focus on investing in and revitalising the Bella Italia and Café Rouge brands and pushing ahead with the sale of Strada. We already have plans in place to open twelve new Bella Italia restaurants over the next year and expect over fifty more restaurants to open over the next five years.”

   

Westminster Council limits Smith & Wollensky to just 14 at the bar: Smith & Wollensky, the high-end American steak restaurant chain, which is planning to open a 300-cover restaurant in the art deco Adelphi building in John Adam Street, just off the Strand in Central London, has been told by Westminster Council that it can have just 14 patrons in the bar area prior to taking a meal. The number of patrons allowed to smoke outside at any one time has also been limited, to just six. Westminster Council’s licensing sub-committee was told last week that objections to the restaurant had been received from 40 local residents, as well as the council’s own environmental health department. The application for the restaurant was agreed, but with restrictions including no deliveries on Sunday, conditions relating to door staff and the closure of external doors when not in use, and windows, together with the requirement to provide contact details to local residents of a relevant member of the management team. Smith & Wollensky, which has nine outlets in the United States from Boston to Las Vegas, has been looking to open in London since 2006, at least. It started in New York in 1977, and boasts that it is the only national steakhouse chain to dry-age and butcher on site, fly in fresh lobster daily and make all sides and pastries by hand.

   

The Sunday Times – Tesco losing market share to JD Wetherspoon: The Sunday Times has argued that Tesco is losing market share to JD Wetherspoon. The newspaper stated: “Pressure is building on chairman Sir Richard Broadbent and chief executive Philip Clarke after the decline in quarterly like-for-like sales accelerated from 3.3% to 4% this month. Britain’s leading grocer is losing market share to Aldi and Lidl, the German discounters, and pub chains such as JD Wetherspoon, which offers cheap meal deals. Its giant out-of-town stores have fallen out of fashion as consumers increasingly favour smaller convenience trips over big weekly shops.”

   

Third PoundPub opens in Newark: A new PoundPub has opened, in Newark, Nottinghamshire, selling lagers, ciders and beers, including Fosters, Strongbow, Theakstons and John Smith’s for £1.50 a pint or £1 for a half. The pub is the latest in a growing chain run by the company Here For You Hospitality, which runs ten other bars in Birmingham, Liverpool, and Stoke. Other PoundPubs are in Atherton in Greater Manchester and Stockton on Tees. Here For You’s managing director, Mike Wardell said: “Here we had an existing site where it could fit well. There will be the addition of TVs and clearly the pricing will be lower. The feedback elsewhere has been brilliant and we have quadrupled the volume of beer we are selling.” Wardell said the cheap prices did not mean the pubs encouraged excessive drinking. “Any bad reaction has only come from people who don’t want to drink at them, and at the end of the day they are not our customers,” he said. The chain is planning to apply to change its licence to enable it to open from 9am, as it has done at its other pubs.

   

Thwaites installs ‘first tank beer in Yorkshire’ at Judges Lodgings in York: The Blackburn brewer Thwaites is claiming to have installed the first example in York, and possibly Yorkshire, of “tank lager”, unpasteurised beer served from a huge copper tank, at the Judges Lodgings pub. Thwaites bought the pub in 2012 for £1.5m, for its “Inns of Character” portfolio and has now spent more than £2.2m, including £1.7m over the past six months, refurbishing it. The old cellar bar will now be accessed from a door in the centre of the building’s facade, rather than the side, and while the upstairs bar will sell Thwaites’ own beers and also local ales, the cellar bar will also sell Warsteiner lager from a copper tank. This form of dispensing beer, known as “tankova” in the Czech Republic, is popular in parts of mainland Europe, and gaining a foothold in London, but Thwaites says this is its first appearance in York, and possibly even Yorkshire. Nick James, manager at the Judges Lodgings, said the method made the beer taste as fresh as is possible. “It’s unpasteurised, so it’s exactly as it is at the brewery,” he said. The pub, in Lendal, has also been given an extra eight guest rooms, taking the total to 21.

   

YO! Sushi owner goes outside for new chief executive: Quilvest Private Equity, which owns the UK restaurant chain YO! Sushi and backs Dunkin’ Donuts in the US, has hired someone from rival 3i as chief executive, in an unusual move for the private equity sector, where firms tend to promote from within. The new man at the top will be Guy Zarzavatdjian, 3i’s head of southern Europe, who will join Quilvest, which has around $5bn in assets under management, next month. As well as owning YO! Sushi and backing Dunkin’ Donuts owner Metro Franchising in the United States, Quilvest also has a stake in the UK burrito chain Tortilla and the American restaurant chains PF Chang’s, Anthony’s Pizza and Pashas.

   

Carluccio’s reports profit boost: Carluccio’s, the Italian chain head by Simon Kossoff, has reported that turnover rose 22% to £118m in the year to September 2013. Pre-tax profit climbed 19% to £8.1m. The company is preparing its first US opening in the wealthy Washington DC suburb of Alexandria, with a further two openings planned in the city before expansion to other US cities – Chicago and Boston are the most likely expansion locations. The company has 94 sites with the 100 mark likely to be reached before the end of the year. Carluccio’s has been owned by Dubai’s Landmark Group since 2010.

   

Roadchef reports operating profit boost from McDonald’s installations: Roadchef, the UK’s third largest motorway service station operator with a 21% market share and 44 million visits a year to its 20 motorway sites, has reported operating profit rose to £9.5m (£7.6m in the year to 1 January 2013) in the year to 31 December 2013. Spend per transaction rose to £4.66 from £4.59 and like-for-like sales rose 6.1% thanks, the company said, to four McDonald’s openings in 2012 and five in 2013 – sales grew by 400% on a like-for-like basis at “some outlets” re-opened as a McDonald’s. Roadchef is also “revitalising” Costa Coffee outlets at its sites. Sales dropped to £181.9m from £222.2m as low margin petrol stations were leased to BP and Shell, allowing the company to focus on “more profitable income generators of the business such as catering”. Losses were reduced to £6.8m from £7.3m the year before – interest charges were circa £15m both years. Roadchef employs 2,775 people.

   

Agent searches for Trinity Leeds franchisee for Muffin Break: Agent Christie + Co has been appointed to find a franchisee for the Muffin Break store in the Trinity Leeds Mall. Muffin Break’s current owner has operated the business for the past six months and has continued to trade extremely well, generating profit month on month. He is regrettably having to leave the business due to personal reasons, said the agent. Tom Hodgson, of Christie + Co, said: “We are offering a unique opportunity to trade from an absolutely prime position in the Trinity Leeds Mall. Muffin Break is a well-established, Australian franchise that is rapidly expanding in the UK with over 50 outlets already open and trading throughout England and Scotland. The Trinity outlet has already experienced fantastic turnover levels since opening in December 2013 and has bright projections for the next two to three years.” The franchise opportunity is available at £275,000. Interested parties should call Tom Hodgson of Christie + Co on 0113 389 2700. 

   

Byron, Chimichanga, Boost and Stone Baked Pizza for Highcross Leicester: The Australian juice bar Boost, the Mexican restaurant chain Chimichanga, the gourmet hamburger joint Byron and Stone Baked Pizza are all due to open in the Highcross shopping centre in Leicester in the coming weeks. The centre’s general manager, Jo Tallack, said: “These exciting new retailers and restaurants show just how we’re responding to the increasingly savvy and adventurous shopper on the lookout for fresh taste experiences, as well as great value, choice and convenience. The development of these dining choices, especially in St Peter’s Square, helps us attract more people to Leicester and encourages them to spend longer in the city centre – day and night – which is great news for Highcross and the city as a whole.” The new Byron will be the chain’s 46th branch and the only outlet between Oxford and Manchester. It will be open from 11am to 11.30pm Sunday to Thursday and 11am to 12.30am Friday and Saturday. Chimichanga, the Mexican fast food restaurant chain owned by Prezzo, has applied for a drinks licence from 10am to midnight, Monday to Saturday and 10am to11.30pm on Sunday. It will be the chain’s 39th outlet. The new Boost will be the chain’s 19th outlet, and its third in the Midlands. The openings come as Red Hot World Buffet prepares to open in the former Litten Tree pub on the corner of High Street and Highcross Street after a £2m refurbishment. The restaurant, spread across 16,000 sq ft of floor space on two floors, will open on 30 June, creating 70 jobs in positions including management posts, chefs and waiting and bar staff.

   

Bath Ales to build new brewery: Bath Ales, which celebrates its 20th anniversary next year, is designing a new brewery, which will be built on the same site as its office, warehouse and bottling plant operations in Warmley, on the outskirts of Bristol, to replace its original and increasingly outdated brewery on the nearby Caxton Business Park. Work on the brewery is expected to start in the summer or autumn, to allow it to be used from next year onwards. Robin Couling, Bath Ales’ managing director, said: “We’ll be consolidating to one site, which means lower property costs and lower operational costs such as for moving stock and so on. Having a more modern brewery makes us more efficient too. It gives us the opportunity to be more flexible in terms of the types of beers we produce, the level of consistency of those beers and the volume of beer we can make. It should benefit the customer as well as the business.” Earlier this month, Bath Ales’ parent company, Hare it House Holdings published its latest set of results, which covered the year ending 31 August 2013. The holding company is also the parent for two smaller businesses, the Graze Too bar and restaurant operation and the Hare and Now pubs operation. Hare it House Holdings’ results show that group turnover reached £9.8m in 2012/13, up from £6.9m in 2011/12. The group also reported pre-tax losses of £27,000, a dip from pre-tax profits of £85,000 a year earlier. During the year, however, Hare it House Holdings concluded a consolidation process by transferring assets from a previous partnership structure known as Hare on the Hill Partnership. This means the financial results do no tell the full story, Couling said. “They don’t account for all of the trade of the group. It’s a misleading picture. The whole group turnover was more like £14m with Ebitda of £1m,” he said. The company owns ten pubs.

   

Ca’pucciono opens fifth UK site, a co-location with WH Smith at Heathrow Terminal Two: Italian premium Italian coffee house and kitchen Ca’pucciono has opened its fifth UK site, a new concept in The Queen’s Terminal, Heathrow T2 across a 140 seat location, combining a state of the art speciality coffee and take away area, a signature restaurant and a fresh ice cream and chocolate bar including a children’s area for families. Currently with 11 sites in Italy including Rome, Milan and Bologna along with four other premium locations in the UK in Harrods, Westfield White City, 138a Kings Road and 25 Basil Street, the new Terminal 2 location offers a unique “hybridisation concept” in the takeaway area with its neighbour WH Smith, meaning best-selling books, newspapers and magazines are all available for purchase within the 3,700 square foot layout. 

   

Debenhams to trial Costa Coffee shops in its stores: The department store chain Debenhams is to open the first of six trial Costa Coffee franchises in its stores on 25 June. The first trial is taking place in Guildford, Surrey, after customers were surveyed and chose the Costa brand over rivals such as Starbucks and Caffe Nero. Costa will launch more cafes in Debenhams stores in Slough this month and Derby, Exeter, Haverfordwest and Woking in July. Debenhams claims the partnership is a “great strategic fit” because both brands have “similar customer demographics, brand recognition and product quality”. John Baker, Debenhams’ director of food services, said: “Costa is the perfect partner for us to complement our successful in-house restaurant and cafe proposition. Growing our food hospitality business is an important part of our strategy to improve the return on our UK stores through a wider choice of products and brands. Nearly all Debenhams stores are equipped with a restaurant, a cafe or both. Working with third parties offers a fantastic opportunity to create an additional offering.” The chain said it would continue to invest in its in-house restaurant and cafe business and pointed to the £25m refurbishment of its flagship store in Oxford Street as proof. Debenhams revealed the news to coincide with its results, which saw like-for-like sales for the 14 weeks to 7 June increase by 0.7%.

   

Aberystwyth McDonald’s must employ security doorman to stay open at weekends: The McDonald’s branch in Aberystwyth, West Wales has been given permission to stay open 24 hours on two days a week, but only if a security staff member is on site during those nights. McDonald’s franchisee Bob Beckett had applied to the county council to stay open 24 hours, seven days a week. But after objections from nearby residents the council’s licensing panel agreed only to 24-hour opening on Fridays and Saturdays, for both the restaurant and its drive-through facility. Freddie Humphreys, a barrister representing Beckett, said he was willing to agree to certain conditions including an upgrade to CCTV for night vision, number plate recognition, and signage asking customers to leave the premises quietly. John Evans, DyfedPowys Police’s licensing officer, said 12 incident reports relating to McDonalds were logged over 12 months. Evans said he felt that one SIA-trained security doorman on site on Friday and Saturday nights, would “minimise problems”.

   

KFC offers staff salary sacrifice car scheme: KFC is offering more than 950 eligible employees the chance to save money by buying a car through a new company salary sacrifice car scheme. “We cannot give everyone a company car, but salary sacrifice allows employees to make savings on a brand new car. So far, those who have ordered have made substantial savings on national insurance and tax. There was initial excitement among employees from the launch and, from feedback, it was clear that a lot of restaurant general managers wanted the benefit. It was our opportunity to deliver a benefit employees wanted, and we have.” KFC said it felt it was important to offer the benefit to staff travelling to and from training and meetings across the UK, because the company does not allow employees to use their own cars on business. The chain has included an emissions cap at 130g/km to help improve the organisation’s green credentials and help employees to make tax savings. The scheme, provided by Leasedrive, was introduced as a result of employee feedback.

   

Camerons invests in two Pub and Kitchen sites: Camerons Brewery is undertaking two schemes to convert sites to its Pub and Kitchen brand. The Blue Lounge on St Nicholas Street, Scarborough re-opened as a ‘Pub and Kitchen’ following a refurbishment of the venue. Working with the brewery’s food development chef a new menu has been launched selling a range of home-cooked pub classics as well as a new premium burger and hotdog selection. The Blue Lounge has also implemented Camerons ‘10 Green Bottles’ project with a range of new cask, craft and world draught and bottled beers and ciders being introduced. Brands such as Timmermans, Birra Moretti, Grimbergen, Erdinger and Brooklyn Lager are now stocked in the venue for the first time and will sit alongside more traditional brands on the bar. The second extensive project begins at their Aspire, Redcar site which will also be converted to a Blue Lounge ‘Pub and Kitchen’ brand offering a similar food menu and range of beers lagers and ciders to the Scarborough venue. The Redcar site will close today (23 June) and reopen on the 7 July. Joe Smith, pub estates and operations director at Camerons, said: “Camerons is committed to developing its own current retail pub estate as well as looking at opportunities to grow the group. This is the initial step in a number of capital expenditure projects we have planned for the managed and leased and tenanted estates, as we look to create a quality retail pub estate offering our customer a fantastic range of drinks, quality food menus and unrivalled customer service.”

   

Cornish Pizza Co takes its act on the road: The Cornish Pizza Company has been given financial backing to take its business on the road, serving pizzas at festivals, beaches, campsites, weddings and other outside catering events. Vicki and Jon Crwys-Williams, who co-own the Cornish Pizza Company takeaway in St Agnes, North Cornwall, secured £14,000 from Barclays Bank to invest in a van large enough to be fitted with an oven capable of cooking 50 pizzas an hour. Vicki Crwys-Williams said: “This is the next exciting step for our business and one which we hope will allow us to build on the experience we’ve gained in-house by providing quality pizza at affordable prices for locals and tourists across the county to enjoy this coming holiday season.” The Cornish Pizza Company currently employs eight staff. Its St Agnes takeaway will remain open for business and its opening hours will be extended to cope with the busy summer period.

   

Punch and M&B spent £800,000 between them on two York pubs: Punch Taverns and the Mitchells & Butlers subsidiary Nicholson’s are each reopening pubs in York this month after a combined spend of £800,000. At the Gillygate in Gillygate, York, Punch has spent £500,000 on completely redecorating inside and out, while new floors have been added, the garden has been redesigned and the lettings rooms have been fully refurbished. A new menu has also been added and the drinks range expanded to include eight cask ales. Dave Rowland of Punch said the investment was one of the company’s largest ever in York, and the company hoped to reposition the Gillygate as one of the city’s top pubs for food, drink, service and entertainment. At The Old White Swan in Goodramgate, Mitchells & Butlers has spent around £300,000 at a Nicholson’s site increasing the cellar capacity and improving the kitchen, and building a new bar that will open from the building into the courtyard, allowing those sitting outside to be served more quickly. The two old fireplaces in the main room are being brought back into use, after extensive chimney work. There will be 19 hand-pulls in total, including three new ale pumps on the outdoor bar.

   

‘High-profile’ operators looking at Southend nightclub and restaurant: ‘High-profile’ operators, both local and from London, including a group that owns “a number of nightclubs and entertainment venues”, are said to be looking at the Churchills nightclub and restaurant in Tylers Avenue, Southend, Essex after it was put on the market. Churchills is owned by Richard Shea, who bought it from Regent Inns for an undisclosed sum in 2008. He also owns two other Southend nightspots, Mayhem, in Warrior Square, and Legends, formally Mansion, in Elmer Approach, and The Tiger Lilly bar in Leigh Road, Leigh. But in February Shea said he was struggling to make a profit from nightclubs. He now wants to offload Churchills, or lease it to an operator long-term. Gerard Biagioni, of the estate agent Dedman Gray, said: “We have a lot of interest being shown by high-profile operators, some local. We have one inquiry from a local night-time activity owner, a lot from London and a group that owns a number of nightclubs and entertainment venues.” The venue, which has a ground floor, mezzanine and garden with patio, is licensed to serve 620 people until 4am on Fridays and Saturdays.

   

Northern Ireland businessman opens third restaurant, plans fourth: Northern Ireland businessman Paul Savage has opened his third restaurant, The Anchorage seafood restaurant in Holywood, Co Down, and is planning his fourth. The businessman’s first move into the hospitality sector came with the opening of The 4th Wall, followed by a sole venture, Gracie’s Bistro on Belfast’s Woodstock Road. By September, Savage’s fourth operation, Johnson’s Avenue, is expected to open at Botanic Avenue, in the premises formerly occupied by AM:PM. He said he doesn’t intend to stop at four restaurants. “The overall business plan is to open one a year. The restaurants really pay for themselves after about seven or eight months,” he said.

   

New chairman and finance director at Drake & Morgan: Drake & Morgan has announced the appointment of a new non-executive chairman Tony Campbell and financial director James Sherrington as the brand looks to further strengthen its estate this year following the £30 million acquisition of the company by private equity firm Bowmark Capital last year. Tony Campbell is one of the UK’s most experienced retail business executives with over 25 years experience as a director of a FTSE company and over 40 years experience in retailing that spans brands such as ASDA, The Spirit Group, Ted Baker and Hobbs. He currently holds a number of senior positions including non-executive chairman of The White Company and TM Lewin & Sons and non-executive director of The Original Factory Shop. Sherrington joins Drake & Morgan from Caprice Holdings and the Birley Group where he was the financial director, reporting directly into Richard Caring and overseeing the financing to support new start up concepts such as Grillshack and Jackson & Rye as well as the JV partnership with Balthazar. Founder and managing director of Drake & Morgan, Jillian MacLean said: “Tony comes with a wealth of retail and leisure experience and will be a fantastic addition to the team whilst James’s considerable restaurant experience will prove invaluable. I look forward to working closely with them both as we take the business through its next stage of growth”. Drake & Morgan has a portfolio of seven London-based bar restaurants and most recently opened The Fable in Farrington in February of this year.

   

Cyclops extended to lager: Cyclops Beer, the industry body which produces tasting notes for over 1,700 cask beers, has now extended its remit to include all beer. The Cyclops tasting notes are a quick and easy guide to how a beer looks, smells and tastes and how bitter or sweet it is. Previously the Cyclops Beer scheme only covered cask and bottle-conditioned beer. “Cyclops Beer decided to make this fundamental change as there are so many great-tasting beers on sale which are not available in cask.” said Stephen Gould from Cyclops Beer. “We’ve increasingly been asked to accredit lagers, craft keg and other beers. Now seems the right time to broaden Cyclops and make our clear and easy-to-understand tasting notes available for the wide variety of beers that you can find in pubs, clubs, beer festivals and the off trade. There has never been a better time to drink British beer and we want to encourage drinkers to discover some great-tasting beers, regardless of whether or not they are available in cask.” The first keg beer to have been accredited is Longhorn IPA from Purity which you can see on the Cyclops website http://www.cyclopsbeer.co.uk/beer.asp?beer_id=5466

   

Starbucks launches local action programme in the US: Starbucks has launched the Solutions City initiative in which mayors in five cities – Sacramento, Baltimore, Columbus, Orlando, and Phoenix – will bring together constituents and other local leaders for town hall meetings in their neighbourhood Starbucks store to identify and tackle civic challenges on three key issues: providing access to education, supporting veterans, and empowering opportunity youth. “More and more people feel their communities need to take ownership of local problems, spark a spirit of bottom-up reform, and act, but they don’t always know how – or get the invitation to start,” said Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson. “The Solutions City program is an opportunity to change that. With this programme, we’ll bring mayors, citizens and other community leaders together, in a familiar forum like your local Starbucks, where we all have a hand in finding and solving problems.”

   

Wendy’s may put pretzel bun burger on menu permanently: Wendy’s is bringing back the one-off Pretzel Bacon Cheeseburger and Pretzel Pub Chicken Burger next month, with a hint that the pretzel burgers might be back on the menu permanently. The two burgers are expected to be available across the company’s outlets in the United States by the 4th July weekend. Last July, Wendy’s saw third-quarter sales increases of 3.2% at company-owned locations and 3.1% at franchised restaurants after the debut of the Pretzel Bacon Cheeseburger, and fourth-quarter like-for-like rises of 3.1% at company-owned restaurants and 2.8% at franchised ones after the introduction of the Pretzel Pub Chicken Burger in October. Wendy’s chief marketing officer Craig Bahner said the company removed the pretzel burgers last year to make way for other premium burgers on upmarket bread, including the Bacon Portabella Melt on brioche and the Ciabatta Bacon Cheeseburger, “but consumers made it clear we couldn’t say goodbye to pretzel forever. The pretzel bun was a cornerstone of our menu innovation last year,” Bahner said. “We are bringing it back to delight consumers who love this special taste from Wendy’s.” The brand will reportedly also allow customers to upgrade the bun of any standard burger to a pretzel bun for an additional 30-cent charge.

   

LT Pub Management reports profit boost: The UK’s leading out-sourced pub, restaurant and leisure management company, LT Pub Management PLC, has reported an increase in sales and profits for its most recent financial year. The company, led by Billy Buchanan, saw turnover increase to £25.58m in the year to 29 December 2013, up from £24.29m the year before. Operating profit before depreciation and amortisation rose to £565,000 compared to £440,000 in the previous year. Pre-tax profit climbed to £407,000, from £263,000 in 2012. The company, which oversaw management of more than 1,000 pub, restaurant, hotel and nightclub sites in 2013, provides a range of specialist management services, including full operational management, procurement reviews, IT and EPOS management, back-office support and management under contract. The company also expanded into Eire in 2013 and now operates a number of assets on behalf of a variety of owners. As part of an exciting development for both companies, LT undertook a procurement review on behalf of Walkabout operator iNTERTAIN and as a result of an in depth review of their central costs, iNTERTAIN has subsequently contracted LT to provide back-office and IT services for the bar operator. In November 2013, LT was hired to manage the 176-strong Bramwell Pub Company estate after it entered administration. Other long-term contracts include providing out-sourced management and back office services for the 71 strong Little Chef estate and 41 co-located Burger King units. Chief executive Billy Buchanan said: “2013 was another very successful year for LT with the addition of a number of long-term contracts. The company is now widening the sectors in which it operates as the back office, accounting and IT services provided by LT are applicable to other business types. Our scale means we achieve extremely good buying terms and through our procurement expertise we were pleased to partner iNTERTAIN in the early stage of its procurement review – and have subsequently been contracted to provide full back office support. We work with a range of asset owners to operate high quality assets and this work has now expanded into Southern Ireland. We are also seeing increasing demand from asset owners for business reviews and due diligence work based on our extensive experience across many different types of business. We were also very pleased to offer management support to Bramwell Pub Company‘s administrator Zolfo Cooper which included visiting every site within the geographically spread estate within hours of the administration starting. Our work on behalf of administrators included taking on the Premium Bars and Restaurants portfolio in October last year.” LT Pub Management PLC expanded its Norfolk head office in 2013 and invested in upgrading its IT systems, enhancing the service it provides to clients.