Gourmet Holdings buys Reading pub

Pub and restaurant operator Gourmet Holdings has completed its acquisition of the Bel and the Dragon brand.

Gourmet Holdings paid £3.85m in cash for the Bel and the Dragon in Reading, Berkshire, which was owned by BDR.

The company already operates six pub-restaurants, of which three are Bel and the Dragons. It also runs four Richoux restaurants.

Gourmet Holdings raised £5.2m in December to accelerate the roll-out of its pub-restaurant business.

Gareth Lloyd-Jones, chief executive at Gourmet Holdings, said: "This acquisition achieves two important goals for the company. First, it finalises the purchase of the Bel and the Dragon brand, as we had envisaged in June 2004. Second, it invests some of the new funds raised during the recent placing."

The company said it was in advanced negotiations for an additional Bel and the Dragon site.

By Chris Druce

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