Two Chichester pubs under new owners

The White Horse, in Chilgrove, and The Royal Oak, in East Lavant are now part of the Butcombe Pubs and Inns family, after Liberation Group and Cirrus Inns combined their businesses this month.

The Welldiggers Arms in Petworth, and The Old House Inn, in Copthorne are also now part of the same group.

Liberation Group, the UK and Channel Islands pub, brewing and drinks business and Cirrus Inns, a 22 strong premium pub business which trades from Southwest London across to the Cotswolds, are delighted to announce the combination of the two businesses.

The combination creates a predominantly freehold, estate of 137 pubs, made up of 79 managed and 58 tenanted sites.

Jonathan Lawson, Liberation CEO, will lead the combined group, with Alex Langlands Pearse, the Cirrus Inns Founder and CEO, joining Liberation Group’s Board as a Non-Executive Director.

Jonathan Lawson said: “Liberation Group, Cirrus and our respective majority shareholders, share a very similar view of pubs, and the unique role they play in our communities. Langy and his team have built a superb business which we are incredibly proud to welcome into Liberation Group. This move is consistent with our strategy of focusing on freehold premium food led pubs with rooms and provides us with further volume growth for our highly successful and award-winning beers such as Butcombe Original, Liberation IPA and our brand-new Tall Tales Pale Ale. I would like to thank Liberation Group’s majority shareholder, Caledonia Investments plc for their support with this transaction.”

Alex Langlands Pearse added: “I have watched the development of Liberation Group over the last few years and along with our major shareholder, the Heineken family, feel confident in the ability of its team to take the business forward. We are reassured that in Caledonia, we have found investors with the similar level of family values, ambition, and long-term approach to build something unique and I look forward to joining the Board”.