Urban Pubs & Bars Acquires Eleven Sites, Leading London Pub Growth

The rapid growth of London’s leading premium pub and dining group, Urban Pubs & Bars, founded in 2014 by Malc Heap & Nick Pring, continues with the acquisition of eleven new sites. 

Urban Pubs & Bars (UPB) has announced the acquisition of eight trading leasehold businesses and three vacant freehold sites from the administrators of Elflock Limited, Babel Silk Limited, Brocade Limited and De Gremio Limited. 

The leisure group, which already operates 44 pubs, bars and restaurants across London, will assume control of these sites with immediate effect. 

The iconic London pubs that have been acquired are spread across the capital and include The East Dulwich Tavern in East Dulwich, The Antelope in Tooting and The Sun in Camberwell. 

This major deal makes UPB London’s fastest growing pub business, having already doubled the size of its estate since COVID. This deal takes them to 52 trading sites. As part of the transfer, 150 employees will transfer to UPB.

Sam Birchall, head of Special Situations M&A at Interpath added: “The transaction demonstrates the opportunity that exists in the market for successful operators to acquire quality assets as part of their ongoing growth strategies.”

Steve Absolom, managing director at Interpath and joint administrator, said: “This eclectic group of popular pubs and bars have traded well since our appointment just over seven weeks ago and buyer interest has been extremely strong.  We are delighted that we have been able to secure this transaction with Urban Pubs and Bars and importantly safeguard the jobs for their loyal and hard working employees.”

Last month UPB announced the acquisition of two new sites including The Herne Tavern in East Dulwich and The Gun in Spitalfields. 

UPB Managing Director, Chris Hill, said: “We are delighted to be acquiring these fantastic pubs – and we can’t wait to bring them into the Urban family. Like so many existing corners of UPB, these newly acquired sites are iconic in so many individual ways – and we can’t wait to work with our new colleagues to realise the full potential of them, and their brilliant businesses”.

The UPB Group, includes flagship pubs The Wheatsheaf, Tooting, The Gatehouse, Highgate, Bat & Ball Stratford and recently opened The Red Setter in Battersea and The Victory at Waterloo. 

Earlier this year Urban Pubs & Bars (UPB) announced group EBITDA of £6.4m for the financial year-ended April 30, 2023, an improvement of 11 per cent versus the prior year. 

The group of ever-expanding pubs and restaurants saw like-for-like sales increase by 17 per cent and turnover increased by almost 60 per cent to £52.2m.