Lancashire pubs to change hands in £45 million deal

The deal will see Marston's offload 137 pubs, including nine in Lancashire, to Admiral Taverns.

The pub groups have not confirmed which nine pubs will change hands, but Marston's said the pubs "would be smaller wet-led leased, tenanted and franchised pubs".

The deal is expected to be completed before the end of November.

Marston’s currently operate 30 pubs in Lancashire.

The deal, worth £44.9 million, was confirmed this morning (November 4). Marston’s said the sale is part of its plans to reduce its debt through the disposal of "non-core assets".

Ralph Findlay, Martson's chief executive officer, said: "We are making good progress with our plans to reduce our net debt by £200 million by 2023 in part through the disposal of non-core assets.

"We are encouraged by the level of market interest that this portfolio of pubs has attracted.

"This further underpins our confidence in achieving the accelerated £70 million disposal proceeds target that we have set ourselves for the current year."

Chris Jowsey, chief executive of Admiral Taverns said: "This is another exciting acquisition for our business, building on the strong momentum established over the course of the year and on behalf of the entire team I would like to take this opportunity to welcome our new licensees and colleagues to Admiral.

"We remain fully committed to the leased and tenanted model and through this acquisition have been able to acquire an excellent portfolio of pubs."

It follows Admiral Tavern' acquisition of 150 pubs from Star Pubs & Bars in October 2019.

• The Hoghton Arms would like to clarify it is not part of the takeover and is running as usual.