Strategic advice

In the boom years, some people paid high rentals to become involved in a growing sector but the economy and a saturation in licensed leisure caught up with them.

We are now helping many landlords who have suddenly been given back their keys. Among them are Axa, LV=, F&C Property Asset Management and many private investors. In many cases, we’ve found alternative uses for surplus properties or have advised on property sales.

Among recent deals, Tesco has snapped up two units that we advised on and subsequently marketed, a former Yates’s Wine Lodge in Guildford and the gound floor of The Pigeons in Stratford, East London. The Pigeons was sold to a developer, who is turning the upper storeys into flats.

Residential is one obvious use for former pubs but ethnic restaurants and retail units are also popular and buildings are occasionally demolished to take best advantage of the site footprint in a new build. We’ve even seen one pub turned into a place of worship.

Our valuation of CI Traders properties allowed the group to rebalance its portfolio. We also sold them the Bolney Stage on the A23 north of Brighton to add to its Blubeckers holdings, not long before Blubeckers itself was sold. The chain is now owned by The Restaurant Group.