Pub operator and brewer Brakspear is expanding its managed division with two pubs transferring from its tenanted and leased business, taking the managed estate up to ten sites.
The Little Angel (pictured), 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 and Duck in Wokingham, which will re-open in November after an extensive redevelopment. The Dog and 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 and 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 and Duck, and we’re looking forward to re-opening it with an offer that has been very successful at the Retreat. The Dog and 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 tenanted and leased estate.
