Price of ‘bottom-end' freehold pubs rises

So-called "bottom end" freehold pubs, usually put on the market as a result of a forced sale situation, have risen 16% in price over the past year to 30 September 2012.

That's the finding of the latest analysis of the pub property market by property agents Fleurets.

Fleurets found that bottom end freeholds accounted for two thirds of all pub transactions. Average sale prices rose 18% in the north of the UK (incorporating Fleurets' Leeds, Manchester and Birmingham offices), and 8% in the south of the UK and (London, Brighton, Bristol and Sudbury).

London itself saw a 25% rise in the price of bottom end properties.

Fleurets said that 49% of all bottom end sales were for less than £200,000, while 48% were for non-pub use.

Meanwhile leaseholds saw a 15% decline in average sale prices national, down 18% in the north and 5% in the south. A total of 37% of transactions involved a tied lease, with 63% free of tie.

Freehold free houses saw a 17% increase in the national average sale price, but the volume of transactions was limited. The south saw 71% of the transactions, and the average fair maintainable turnover was steady at £408,000.

Simon Hall, director and head of pubs at Fleurets said: "Market activity has continued to be dominated by the sale of bottom end freehold pubs with relatively little genuine market activity in respect of the sale of operational and profitable units on a freehold or a leasehold basis.

"From analysis of our transactions however, there have been some subtle changes to the market place on a national and on a north/south basis."

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