Greene King frets over London pubs

GREENE KING’s boss today warned that London pubs are seeing “subdued” trading compared with the rest of the country and urged Boris Johnson to provide the “critical” certainty of an unrestricted reopening on June 21.

Greene King has about 1,500 managed pubs and nearly 1,000 tenancies in the UK. Just 20% of its 151 managed pubs in London’s Zones 1 and 2 are open.

Chief executive Nick Mackenzie told the Standard the group is currently taking around 30% of normal revenues, despite the “euphoria” seen on reopening.

He said: “London particularly has been a real challenge.” Footfall in the City and West End has been hit by travel restrictions and there are still many people working from home.

The comments came as Greene King, which has made 607 redundancies since the pandemic hit, reported a statutory pre-tax loss of £248.6 million for the 36 weeks to January 3. Revenues were down 63.4% to £562.1 million.

The company was sold to CK Asset

Holdings — held by Hong Kong-based billionaire Li Ka-shing — in 2019 in a £4.6 billion takeover deal.

Mackenzie added: “I am confident for the medium to long term of the sector, because it always has been a survivor.”

Also on Tuesday, AIM-listed hospitality firm Nightcap, which floated at 10p per share in January, said it has agreed to buy Adventure Bar Group in a deal valued at up to £6.8 million.

The firm it is acquiring has nine sites and is behind brands including Blame Gloria in Covent Garden.