British Land has re-entered the pub arena with the £173m acquisition of 65 freehold pubs from the Spirit Group.

For almost 10 years, British Land owned 306 pubs which were let to Scottish & Newcastle (from whom Spirit bought 1,450 pubs in October 2003). All but two have now been sold for a profit.

Spirit will lease the offloaded pubs for 30 years in a deal that includes annual rent rises for 15 years, after which they will revert to open market rents.

The news of the sale comes a week after Spirit’s announcement that it had identified 350 sites that were no longer core to its 2,400–strong estate and could be sold.

Such a sale is seen as a possible prelude to a flotation on the stock market next year that City observers believe could raise as much as £200m.

by Angela Frewin

Buy this week's Caterer magazine for more industry news and analysis