Bel And The Dragon, the pub-restaurant business, has been put back on the market after exclusive sale talks with gastropub group Cross Oak Inns ended, it was reported today.

Gourmet Holdings, the AIM-listed owner of Bel And The Dragon, has put the four-strong chain up for sale through Coffer Corporate Leisure for £9m to £9.5m, according to the Times.

The newspaper cited a deterioration of trading as reason to the end of exclusive talks, although it added that Cross Oak has not given up hope of a deal.

The four Bel and The Dragon outlets, all in the Home Counties, were put up for sale in September by Gourmet Holdings, which bought the business in 2004 for about £10m. 

Earlier this month, Gourmet sold two unbranded pubs to Fuller’s, The Five Bells at Stanbridge in Bedfordshire and the Talkhouse at Stanton St in Oxfordshire, for £2.85m.

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By Daniel Thomas

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