Premium Bars & Restaurants' finance director leaves company

Premium Bars & Restaurants will lose its group finance director of nearly seven years when it relocates its head office from Newcastle to Manchester.

The late night operator, previously Ultimate Leisure, today revealed it is to relocate, although it plans to retain a regional office in Newcastle and said redundancies would be kept to a minimum.

However, Craig Bell, who has headed up the finance department since 2001 is leaving the company as he does not want to relocate

Last year, the company acquired the Bel and the Dragon pub restaurant group and is planning to roll-out Living Ventures to more than 30 sites.

Mark Jones, executive chairman at Premium Bars & Restaurants, said: "The decision to move our head office to Manchester reflects our greatly changed focus to a national operator.

"I would like to take this opportunity to thank Craig for the contribution he has made over the past seven years."

Jones added that the search for a successor for Bell was well under way and a further announcement would be made in due course.

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By Chris Druce

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