Heartstone Inns secures £8m refinancing to fund expansion: South and south west managed pub operator Heartstone Inns has secured a new £8m refinancing deal with HSBC which provides the company with £5m of development finance to invest in further pub acquisitions and to develop the existing estate. Heartstone Inns currently owns and operates 11 freehold pubs and recorded sales of £6.5m last year. James Birch, managing director, said: “We are delighted to have secured the ongoing support of HSBC. We recently completed the refurbishment of the Woodborough Inn, Winscombe, Somerset, one of the two pubs we acquired last November and we have a good pipeline of further internal developments and pub acquisitions under consideration.” Ben Hyslop, HSBC senior corporate relationship director at the Hampshire Corporate Banking Centre, said: “We have supported Heartstone Inns since 2007 and we are delighted to continue that support with this latest funding arrangement which will enable the company to continue its growth plans.” Heartstone Inns started trading in January 2007, looking to exploit the growth opportunities offered by freehold, food-led pubs and currently has an estate of 11 pubs in the south and south west of England. The company was founded in December 2006 by the managing director James Birch, chairman Andrew Haining and finance director Robin Black. The Heartstone Inns pubs are: Butchers Arms, Sheepscombe, Painswick, Gloucestershire; Cricketers, Shroton, Blandford Forum, Dorset; Diggers Rest, Woodbury Salterton, Exeter, Devon; Hare & Hounds, Sidbury, Devon; Bun Penny, Lee-on-Solent, Hampshire; Owl, Kingsfold, Horsham, West Sussex; Pelican Inn, Froxfield, Hungerford, Wiltshire; Walhampton Arms, Lymington, Hampshire; Blathwayt Arms, Lansdown, Bath; Cockhaven Manor, Bishopsteignton, Devon; Woodborough Inn, Winscombe, Somerset. 

Mitchells & Butlers’ Birmingham headquarters sold for almost £70m: The central Birmingham headquarters of Mitchells & Butlers has been bought along with an associated hotel in a deal worth almost £70m. Legal & General Property (LGP) has bought the properties on Fleet Street and Lionel Street on behalf of its LPI (limited price inflation) Income Property Fund from LaSalle Investment Management for £69.5m. The 95,000 square foot office building was built for Mitchells & Butlers in 2003 and benefits from a 278-space basement car-park. The attached hotel comprises 120 rooms and was rebranded and refurbished as an Ibis Styles venue in 2014. Derek Gilby, senior fund manager at LGP, said: “The first major regional city centre office asset for the fund, we believe that Birmingham is set to benefit from a number of significant infrastructure projects already underway and the asset is well positioned to gain from the regeneration of the adjacent Paradise area which is undergoing a rapid transformation. Mitchells & Butlers offers the fund a strong tenant covenant, providing secure, inflation-proofed income over a long lease term, yet with the benefit of market rental upside.” JLL acted for LaSalle Investment Management, while CBRE advised Legal & General Property.

Hub by Premier inn chosen as regeneration partner in London’s Berwick Street: PMB Holdings has selected ‘Hub by Premier Inn’ as its hotel partner for the regeneration of 90-104 Berwick Street, central London. The Whitbread hotel brand use is a key component of the overall £105 million, circa 84,500 square foot scheme which includes 13 retail units, 16 homes and substantial improvements to the public realm in and around Berwick Street, its market and along Hopkins Street. Hub by Premier Inn is the new, city centre hotel brand from Whitbread. The first hub by Premier Inn opened in Covent Garden (St Martin’s Lane) in autumn 2014 and a number of sites in London and Edinburgh are currently being developed. The hotel is fundamental to the overall mix and viability of the 90-104 Berwick Street scheme and attracting a proven operator with strong financial capability will enable the scheme to attract a vibrant mix of SME and independent retailers, as well as provide affordable new homes, a spokesman for PMB stated. Of the 16 homes included, four will be family-sized affordable properties. 12 will be new homes for open market sale. Edward Jones, chief executive at PMB Holdings, said: “Hub by Premier Inn is an ideal brand for our exciting Berwick Street scheme. It’s contemporary, high quality and edgy but also tremendously financially secure. We needed to find a partner that could bring both of these ingredients to make the scheme work as a whole so we’re delighted to be working with Whitbread and with hub by Premier Inn.”