Admiral to spend £5m on pub upgrades

Admiral Taverns is set to invest £5m in a five-month summer capital investment programme that will see a significant number of its pubs enhanced.

The company said the initiative would place emphasis on upgrading the exterior facades of pub buildings and developing outside spaces. Some of the money will also be used to improve customer offers on food and cask ale.

The programme, which is already underway, will see £1m allocated to each of Admiral's four regional divisions, with a further £1m to be allocated and invested where appropriate, by the senior operations team.

Managing director Kevin Georgel said: "This is a great opportunity for our licensees and business development managers to optimise the performance of their pubs. Enhancing the external appearance of our pub buildings will be a critical focus for us, as we have identified a number of fantastic pubs - with great standards and atmosphere - that perhaps undersell themselves to potential customers from the outside, so we plan to address this and return such pubs to pristine condition.

"It's an exciting development for Admiral - the first such programme for some time - and will deliver other benefits normally associated with effective capital investment programmes, such as driving pub performance and increasing licensee tenure."

Georgel and his fellow board members have already approved investment proposals for over 100 schemes, some of which are already on site. Work at the lion's share of these projects will commence in the coming weeks and months, although some pubs have already reopened post-development.

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By Neil Gerrard

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