Wetherspoon buys Lloyds No 1 chain

Pub chain JD Wetherspoon has bought 10 Lloyds No 1 pubs from Wolverhampton and Dudley Breweries for an undisclosed sum.

The pubs are all in city centre locations, including Coventry, Nottingham, Sheffield, Northampton and Leicester.

JD Wetherspoon intends to keep the current trading format for the time being, which includes music. Wetherspoon's other pubs are music-free.

Chairman Tim Martin said: "We believe the introduction of Wetherspoon's systems, standards and pricing will greatly enhance trade at these outlets."

He added: "The pubs will be run as a separate business and will not affect the trading style of existing or future Wetherspoon pubs."

Jim Clarke, finance director at Wetherspoon, said: "Just about all of them are converted banks. They are not a million miles away in terms of location and size to the sort of pubs we do. This deal came along and it was an excellent opportunity to get our hands on some more pubs."

He added: "Because they are such good quality in terms of fit-out, there's no need immediately to do anything to them, but we'll keep our options open."

Property consultants Van de Berg & Co acted for JD Wetherspoon, Peter Hanson & Co acted for Wolverhampton & Dudley.

Wolverhampton and Dudley acquired Lloyds No 1 when it took over the Mansfield Brewery last year.

by David Shrimpton david.shrimpton@rbi.co.uk