Fuller’s toasts deal for seven Lovely pubs

Fuller, Smith & Turner has acquired Lovely Pubs’ portfolio of seven pubs for £22.5m. The pubs, six of which are freehold, are in affluent commuter locations across Warwickshire. They are: The Orange Tree in Chadwick End, The Boot Inn at Lapworth, The Farm in Monkspath, Morton’s Kitchen in Dickens Heath, The Baraset Barn in Alveston – which includes 16 hotel bedrooms – The Moat House Inn at Kings Coughton, and The Queen’s Head in Stoke Pound. As part of the deal, Lovely Pubs will maintain its current operations, and the company’s founders will continue in the business.  Fuller’s chief executive Simon Emeny said: “We are very careful when it comes to finding great sites to add to our iconic pub estate, and the Lovely Pubs business is a perfect match and a fantastic acquisition. It was established 30 years ago and is an excellent business with outstanding, well-invested sites offering delicious, fresh, locally sourced food, a great drinks range and a wonderful welcome. It adds scale to our presence within our geography and is a great next chapter in the Fuller’s story. “We will continue to run the sites with their existing offer and it’s exciting to be working with the Lovely Pubs founders. We have spent the last few years getting the Fuller’s business in the best possible shape – and this is a perfect opportunity to grow our managed pubs and hotels estate.” In May, Fuller’s sold 37 tenanted pubs in the South East to Admiral Taverns for £18.3m as part of a strategy to strengthen its balance sheet to support future acquisitions. Fuller’s current portfolio comprises 154 pubs in its tenanted inns division and 179 in its managed pubs and hotels division. CBRE advised on the Lovely Pubs acquisition. Photo © Global Warming Images/Rex/Shutterstock