Member Article

Newcastle’s Pitcher and Piano sold for £7.5 million

Newcastle Quayside’s Pitcher and Piano bar has been sold to a firm of London property investors, acting on behalf of a pension fund.

The £7.5 million deal represents a net yield of 4.35% for pub chain Marstons PLC, and is well above the £6.6 million asking price.

Marstons retain a 35 year lease with an annual rental income of £350k.

Property firm CBRE brokered the deal following the bar’s sale launch in January.

James Whidborne, portfolio manager at Cordea Savills commented: “The Pitcher and Piano on Newcastle Quayside is an iconic bar with exceptional trading figures and a strong residual value underpinned by its instantly recognisable location.

“We are delighted to have secured the purchase for this relatively new mandate targeting long index linked property in core locations. Since July 2013, we have committed £110 million of an £150 million allocation, through a mixture of standing investments and pre-let development opportunities across all sectors.

“The Pitcher & Piano is the perfect example of an investment that fulfils the brief. The Team did exceptionally well to complete the transaction is such a short timeframe.”

Senior director of CBRE’s National Specialist Markets team, Andrew Watt, said: “We are delighted with how quickly a sale was agreed and completed for our client. This high profile investment represented a superb opportunity for the purchaser to enhance their portfolio with a signature property with strong, long-term rental returns in an established leisure location.

“The transaction is representative of the growing buoyancy we are witnessing within the leisure investment market and is encouraging news as the whole of the property sector shows increasing signs of recovery.“

The legal team representing Marstons was Shoosmiths LLP, while Ashurst acted for the purchaser.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tom Keighley .