Salisbury Pubs sells two sites to Little Gems: Award-winning Salisbury Pubs, led by David and Becky Salisbury, has announced the sale of two of its leasehold sites to Little Gems Country Dining, a business led by industry veteran Steve Wilkins. The Swan Inn, a Star Pubs & Bars business in Denham, Bucks and the Old Queens Head, a Greene King Pub Co site in Penn, near High Wycombe will now be run by Little Gems but with the continued support of all the staff who have transferred across to the new owner. Becky Salisbury said: “We have loved every single minute of our stewardship of these two great pubs and we are delighted that Steve was the successful buyer as he knows how to run great businesses and we are sure that our team will enjoy and relish the next chapter of these pubs. David and I wanted to spend less time doing and a bit more time enjoying and we think the decision to focus our energies on the two pubs that we started with some 15 years ago will be good for us, the pubs and the customers.” David Salisbury, co-owner, added: “The Alford Arms, near Berkhamsted, was the first pub Becky and I opened together and soon after we opened The Royal Oak in Marlow. We are looking forward to spending more time in these sites and more time looking at how we continue to improve the offer for our customers.” Steve Wilkins, founder of Little Gems Country Dining, added: “We are thrilled to be given the opportunity to manage these two highly successful pubs and they are the perfect Little Gems to add to our company.”

Wetherspoon kickstarts Northern Ireland expansion with Methodist Chapel in Belfast bought for £800,000: JD Wetherspoon has begun an expansion drive in Northern Ireland after many years of not opening new pubs. Chairman Tim Martin has previously told Propel that the company now had a good team in place in Northern Ireland after several years in which the wider pub trade struggled. Wetherspoon has bought a former Methodist Church in the university area of Belfast for a reported double its £400,000 asking price. The sale of the landmark listed building between University Road and Fountainville Avenue was completed this week on behalf of JD Wetherspoon by agent DTZ McCombe Pierce The red sandstone premises, with interconnecting church halls, had been on the market for £400,000. Local media reports suggest understood Wetherspoon paid around £800,000. The company is also in talks to purchase the site of the former JJB Sports store at Royal Avenue in the city centre. Martin, who hails from Northern Ireland, told local media: “We are very keen to open another of our pubs in Belfast and are pleased to have purchased this site in University Street. We are confident that a Wetherspoon pub will be good for the city and also act as a catalyst for other businesses to invest in Belfast.”