Peach buys ex-Novelli pub in Harpenden
Peach Pubs has acquired a former Jean-Christophe Novelli pub in Hertfordshire, the White Horse in Harpenden, after its most recent owner, Urban and Country Leisure (UCL), closed it earlier this year.
The deal takes Peach's estate to 14 pubs, and it will be the first pub the company has acquired since December 2009. Peach plans to grow its estate by around three pubs each year for the next several years and the deal boosts its presence in the Home Counties, an area where it wants to grow.
Peach has negotiated a free-of-tie lease with Enterprise Inns for the property. Its interior and exterior will be refurbished in keeping with the building's age and character, in a bid to put the heart back into the pub, before opening in early May.
Peach has recruited a management and chef team to run the 60-cover restaurant and bar, 100-cover garden and outside deck and the private dining room for 12, with some Peach people moving to Harpenden to launch the pub and others joining from outside the business. Opportunities still exist to join the new team and work with the company that twice won Caterer and Hotelkeeper's Best Places to Work in Hospitality award.
UCL closed the White Horse in Harpenden in February because it wasn't generating sufficient profit. "The board had looked at a number of options including redevelopment of the site and had tried on a number of occasion to buy the site from brewers Enterprise Inns - however, this was unsuccessful," the company said at the time.
Following UCL's decision to close the White Horse, the company has confirmed it is reversing a £15m plan to expand its pubs business, announced last year, and is diverting the money to a £20m expansion of its Lazy Cow hotel brand.
UCL closes ex-Novelli pub as profits falter >>
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Jean-Christophe Novelli gets injunction against new White Horse owner >>
By Neil Gerrard
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