Gourmet Holdings, owner of Richoux Restaurants and the Bel and the Dragon chain of pub-restaurants, has added two more pubs to its portfolio.
The company, formerly Madisons Coffee, has bought the Five Bells in Stanbridge, Leighton Buzzard, and the Talk House in Stanton St John, Oxfordshire, from pub company Traditional Freehouses.
The acquisitions will bring the total number of gastro-pubs it runs to six and the number of restaurants to 10.
Gourmet Holdings plans to keep the new pubs as they are for the time being, although they may eventually be re-flagged as Bel and the Dragon.
In August Gourmet Holdings announced it had bought the Highwayman pub-restaurant in Checkendon, Oxfordshire.
In a statement to shareholders ahead of its annual general meeting, chairman Nigel Whittaker said both its Bel and the Dragon and Richoux formats had continued to perform well and in line with market expectations.
by Nic Paton
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