Greene King plans to sell 150 pubs and close another 20 under shake-up

Greene King is considering putting up to 150 of its managed sites up for sale, and converting around another 150 into tenanted pubs, as part of a shake-up of its estate in the face of soaring costs and tougher trading.

The group – Britain’s second biggest pub group – is hiving off about 300 managed pubs into a new business division ahead of the proposed changes, with about half earmarked for sale.

The firm is also planning to shut around 20 of its 1,500-strong managed pub estate, but said this was line with usual annual changes.

It will look to offer impacted staff jobs elsewhere in the business.

Greene King said the overhaul was being carried out in response to a changing consumer and trading environment.

The sector is under immense cost pressures from rising wage bills, increasing business rates and a difficult consumer spending backdrop.

While the Government has announced a package of temporary support for pubs to offset business rate hikes, the industry has argued it does not go far enough.

Nick Mackenzie, chief executive of Greene King, said: “We are confident that our new pub estate strategy will set us up to deliver sustainable profitable growth for the long term as consumer habits continue to evolve and the operating environment remains dynamic.”

The firm plans to reinvest a “substantial” amount of cash raised from the sale of managed pubs into its remaining core estate.

It said: “In the meantime, the separate business unit will allow Greene King to run the sites on a simplified model, with a renewed focus on maximising financial returns.”

Greene King has around 2,500 pubs in total, including 1,000 that are leased, tenanted and under franchise.