Young's expands portfolio
London-based brewer and pub group Young & Co is continuing its expansion into the bar-restaurant and hotel markets.
The company is building hotel extensions on to some of its pubs in a project that will add 71 bedrooms to the current 169.
Young's has also been granted planning permission for two hotels in south-west London:a 76-bedroom hotel at the Castle pub in Putney and one with about 25 bedrooms at the Coach and Horses in Kew. The extensions are aimed at making more profitable use of existing space and land.
Young's is also looking for more sites for its "female-friendly" bar-restaurants, Finch's.
The first of these opened in Finsbury Square, central London, in May with 3,800sq ft of bar space. A second 1,800sq ft Finch's opened in Chelmsford, Essex, in October. Both were trading ahead of expectations, said chief executive Pat Read.
The company plans to open further branches in Wimbledon and Oxford.
The announcements came as Young's reported a strong set of interim results for the six months to 26 September 1999.
Turnover rose 8.8% to £45m and pre-tax profits, excluding £1.2m from property sell-offs, rose 20.1% to £3.8m.
Chairman John Young said: "Our continued progress reflects the actions we have taken to improve operating performance [in the brewery] and the better trading conditions experienced during the summer."
Profits in the group's 119 managed pubs were up 5.6%, helped by good summer weather.
Read stressed that brewing and traditional pubs remained Young's core business but its foray into accommodation and bar-restaurants was a sign of "keeping up with the times".
