Fledgling pub-restaurant group Cross Oak Inns has raised nearly a third of the £3.3m it is seeking to fund its expansion.

The group was set up as an Enterprise Investment Scheme company in June 2005 by former hotel entrepreneur Peter Eyles to buy well-located but under-performing pubs in the south of England.

It raised an initial £2.5m last year to buy its first three pubs – the Poacher in Tudeley, Kent; the Kings Arms in Ockley, Surrey; and the Ostrich in Colnbrook, Buckinghamshire.

Eyles said the Poacher (which can seat 70 people inside and another 40 on the patio) was successfully converted to a new format early this year. It will form the blueprint for another five-to-seven food-led pubs.

Eyles, the former chief executive of Norfolk Capital Hotels, was the founder in 1995 of Hanover International and built up a chain of 12 hotels specialising in conferences and meetings.

Hanover was acquired in August 2003 by property entrepreneur Jack Petchey, who has since dismantled the group, selling off the last properties in 2005.

By Angela Frewin

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