Burton-based Punch Taverns sell six London pubs to Fuller's

Mar 27 2009 by Alun Thorne, Birmingham Post

London Pride firm Fuller, Smith & Turner boosted its estate yesterday with the £21 million acquisition of six “wonderful” pubs from Burton-based Punch Taverns.

The Red Lion in Whitehall – a favourite with MPs boasting a live television feed from the House of Commons and a Parliamentary division bell – was one pub bought by Fuller’s.

The price tag was £4.5 million lower than the value of the pubs on Punch’s books. The UK’s largest pub group said the proceeds would go towards reducing debt, which stood at £4.5 billion in August.

Earlier this month it sold three pub sites in Suffolk to Adnams for £2.7 million, amid reports it had approached other regional brewers with a view to selling selected pubs and reducing its debt mountain.

The other five pubs in yesterday’s deal are the 450-year-old Ye Olde Mitre in Hatton Garden, The Swan on Bayswater Road overlooking Hyde Park, The Scarsdale in Kensington, the Queen’s Head on Brook Green and The Hereford in South Kensington. Family-run Fuller’s described the additions as “six wonderful pubs” in the company’s central London heartland.