North East brewery acquires The Head of Steam group

Hartlepool brewery Camerons has announced the acquisition of The Head of Steam pub group, adding seven new pubs to its portfolio.

The new outlets, including three of The Head of Steam sites in Newcastle, Durham and Huddersfield along with iconic Newcastle pubs The Cluny, The Cluny 2, Tilley’s and Central in Gateshead, were purchased via the brewery as it looks to develop its retail pub business across the North of England.

The acquisition takes the Camerons estate to over 75 sites.

Camerons director and general manager, Christopher Soley said “We are delighted with these new additions. As a board one of our key strategic investment areas is the development of a quality, sustainable estate in both our managed and tenanted pub divisions. These new sites fit the criteria which we targeted, offering traditional cask ales, craft beers and world lagers.

“The 7 outlets will form part of our managed group of pubs. There are no imminent plans to change the great offer radically at these sites and will be looking to adopt many of their principles into our current estate.

“This is the first step in developing our estate in size, quality and geography and we are looking for further sites that fit a similar model to The Head of Steam group both within our current estate and new opportunities”.

The purchase of the sites has been supported by brewing partners Carlsberg UK as the two companies look to increase business together. The deal was facilitated by Newcastle advisors Watson Burton and UNW.

Camerons Brewery will be retaining all staff in the group including the services of former co owner Tony Brookes. Tony will work with the Camerons board on a consultancy basis to ensure the sites continue to deliver their unique offer.

Tony Brookes said: “I am really pleased that we have sold our business to Camerons Brewery. After seeing the investment in their new brand range as well as their plans to expand their pub estate I felt Camerons were in a position to take the great work we have done and develop it even further.

“Given the scale of Camerons and the relationship it has with other world brewers and suppliers I am looking forward to working with them to ensure these sites continue to be successful businesses in the future”.

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