Member Article

Living Room sites sold to Stonegate

Managed leisure operator Stonegate Pub Company has completed the acquisition of the Living Room brand, including its original Manchester site, from Premium Bars and Restaurants.

Stonegate, which owns the Yates’ Wine Lodge and Slug & Lettuce chain, has bought 13 sites Living Room sites, including those in Liverpool and Leeds.

It is thought the company may look to bring some of the sites within the Slug and Lettuce brand, which currently operates in 72 locations. The Living Room was founded by Cheshire-based Living Ventures, led by entrepreneurs Tim Bacon and Jeremy Roberts, and its first site opened on Deansgate in 1999. For several years it was a hugely popular venue and the brand was quickly expanded to 13 sites. Living Ventures sold it for £28m to listed group Ultimate Leisure, which later became Premium Bars and Restaurants (PBR). Toby Smith, chief executive of Stonegate, which has more than 570 pubs, bars and restaurants, said: “We are delighted to have acquired The Living Room business and are looking forward to working with the current team to operate what are undoubtedly some of the finest sites in the UK.”

The Living Room, managed by Eclectic Clubs and Bars since August last year, has enjoyed strong trading recently. PBR announced a successful refinancing in February of this year, which reduced debt from £63.1m to £20m.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Simon Malia .