Pub operator and brewer Brakspear is expanding its managed division with two pubs transferring from its tenanted & leased business, taking the managed estate up to 10 sites.
The Little Angel in Brakspear’s home town of Henley-on-Thames has been run for the past 13 years by lessee Doug Green, who with wife Lolly built it into one of the most popular pubs in the area. The Greens are also lessees of another Brakspear pub, the Cherry Tree at Stoke Row near Henley, which they will continue to operate.
The second pub to transfer is the Dog & Duck in Wokingham, which will reopen in November after an extensive redevelopment. The Dog & Duck will have a very similar look and feel to the Retreat, which opened in Staines last autumn, and which Brakspear hopes can become a managed ‘model’, rolled out to other areas as the estate grows
Brakspear chief executive Tom Davies said, “We are delighted to be expanding our managed business with these two pubs. Doug & Lolly have built a great business at the Little Angel and we see no need to change anything, so it’s business as usual there.”
“In contrast, more or less everything is changing at the Dog & Duck, and we’re looking forward to reopening it with an offer that has been very successful at the Retreat. The Dog & Duck will, similarly, deliver great quality food and drink in a welcoming, relaxed setting, with broad appeal to residents and workers in and around Wokingham.”
Brakspear’s first managed pub, the Bull on Bell Street in Henley-on-Thames, opened in March 2013. In addition to the Little Angel and the Dog & Duck, the division comprises: the Porch House and the Sheep on Sheep Street, both in Stow-on-the-Wold; George Townhouse in Shipston-on-Stour; Townhouse in Stratford on Avon; Chequers in Marlow; Running Horses in Mickleham, Surrey and the Retreat in Staines. The Pocket Watch in Shepherds Bush is returning to the T&L estate.
