Pub consolidation rampages on
We've written before about the way in which British pubs are rapidly being bought out by a few major chains, so that the ideal of the independent pub in Britain is getting as scare as the independent hamburger joint in the US.
The latest move was recently announced by Punch Taverns Ltd., which plans to buy the Spirit Group, another pub and restaurant chain. That purchase will make Punch the #1 pub chain in Britain, beating out Enterprise Inns. The deal is for about $2.5 billion and adds some 1,800 pubs and restaurants to Punch's 8,200 pubs. (Enterprise owns 8,700.) Punch will divest around 500 of its pubs, to appease the regulatory authorities. It plans to convert many Spirit pubs from fully owned and managed to tenanted franchises.
Tenanted franchises are a better deal for the corporation, as the tenants take more of the risk and carries much of the staff. The tenants holding underperforming pubs have to solve their own problems. Punch collects rent and fees, and also is the sole seller beer, wine, and liquor to the pubs.
Spirit, in fact, was spun off from the Punch Group in 2002, putting all the managed pubs in one company. It has grown since with the 2003 acquisition of Scottish & Newcastle brewery's own managed pub chain, along with other acquisitions.
10:34:05 PM 
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