15/09/2026 09:10:00
Fuller's has exchanged contracts to acquire 10 pubs in a £35.25m deal involving Stonegate and an institutional property investment company. The premium pubs and hotels business said the transaction includes four freehold and six leasehold properties, writes the Morning Advertiser. Nine of the pubs are in prime London locations, with one site in Bath. Fuller's said the purchase price, before fees and taxes, represented a multiple of 8.4 times acquired site EBITDA and would be funded through existing debt facilities. Completion of the four freehold pubs in expected this month, while the six leasehold acquisitions will complete on an asset-by-asset basis, subject to landlord consent.
Mc & Sons is set to open its third London pub in Crystal Palace as part of wider expansion plans for the family-run group. The operator has taken on the former Royal Albert on Westow Hill, with plans to reopen the site in time for St Patrick's Day 2027. The Crystal Palace pub will be the third Mc & Sons site, joining Borough and Vauxhall, and will take the wider family-run group to six venues, the Morning Advertiser reports. Simon Bland, Senior Associate at Fleurets handled the sale on behalf of Stonegate.
The Elysium Collection will launch its first hotel, Elysium St Mawes in Cornwall, on 4 January 2027, Boutique Hotelier reports. The 56-bedroom hotel, which was originally due to open this autumn, will feature a waterfront restaurant and café, six family rooms and a luxury spa. The hotel's restaurant will offer a Mediterranean style menu which 'celebrates the best of Cornish produce'. It will be led by Stéphane Delourme, the Elysium Collection's executive chef, who spent more than two decades as head chef at Rick Stein's The Seafood Restaurant before becoming group chef for the wider restaurant group. The hotel building, originally constructed in 1904 by the St Austell Brewery, is currently undergoing a transformation in collaboration with 3DReid, the architecture and design studio behind Gleneagles Elysium St Mawes will mark the first opening from The Elysium Collection, with further hotels set to open in Surrey and the Lake District.
UKHospitality has urged mayors to back a 10% rate of hospitality VAT as a condition for introducing the so-called tourist tax, The Caterer, reports. It comes after the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government confirmed on 10 September that mayors and leaders of Foundation Strategic Authorities across England will be given powers to impose an overnight visitor levy as a percentage of the cost of accommodation. While the scheme was welcomed by many mayors, including those of London, Liverpool, East Midlands, and West Yorkshire, some - such as the mayor of Greater Lincolnshire - have already indicated plans not to implement a tourist tax. Chief executive of UKHospitality Allen Simpson called on Labour mayors to support a 10% VAT rate for hospitality to bring the UK in line with other European cities that impose a holiday tax. UKHospitality has repeatedly warned that a tourist tax will make England less competitive internationally and cost a family of four going on holiday an additional £100 per trip, according to calculations by Oxford Economics.
The Ivy Asia is to make its Scottish debut in Glasgow this autumn, writes The Caterer. The city's St Vincent Place will welcome Scotland's first Ivy Asia and the Ivy Glasgow Brasserie, which is to move out of its current Buchanan Street home following its final service on 4 October. The project will create 90 jobs and expand the Ivy Collection's offering to more than 440 covers, split between 351 at the Ivy Glasgow Brasserie and 96 at the Ivy Asia Glasgow. The restaurants reside within the former site of the City of Glasgow Bank, which was designed by celebrated Scottish architect John Burnet Sr, whose work also includes Glasgow's Stock Exchange and Merchants' House.
The Lanes Hotel in Brighton has been sold at auction against a guide price of £2.8m, Hotel Owner reports. Located on Marine Parade in Kemptown, the freehold property comprises 33 en-suite letting bedrooms and occupies a prominent corner site on Brighton's seafront. The property was previously owned and operated by the Beard family, which has run the hotel since 1997. The family decided to sell after almost three decades of ownership. Fleurets acted as joint agent alongside Savills on the sale.