Shepherd Neame buys five Kent restaurants for £12m

Kent-based pub firm and brewer Shepherd Neame has bought Village Green Restaurants for £11.85m.

Village Green Restaurants, run by Alex and Helen Bensley, operates five freehold pub restaurants in and around Maidstone and Ashford in Kent.

All of them will now move to Shepherd Neame's managed pub division.

Village Green's last audited accounts for the year ending 31 October 2015 showed annual turnover of £6.6m and operating profit of £0.9m.

Meanwhile, Shepherd Neame's existing revolving credit facility has been extended by £25m to £45m taking total committed banking facilities to £105m.

Jonathan Neame, chief executive of Shepherd Neame said: "We are delighted to welcome the team from Village Green Restaurants Limited to Shepherd Neame.

"Over recent years we have transformed our pub profile, greatly developed our food offer and enhanced the experience for our customers and this is another important development in our strategy.

"We are hugely impressed by what Alex and Helen and their team have achieved and we look forward to continuing their great work."

Alex Bensley, chief executive of Village Green Restaurants said: "Helen and I are proud of the business we have built and delighted to pass the baton to a local, longstanding family business such as Shepherd Neame."

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