Pub company and brewer Upham Group says it has seen a pick-up in activity in recent weeks, with first quarter sales up 6.8% to £3.3m, compared to the same period in 2017.
The group continues to seek improvements to its estate and so far this year two new bedrooms have been added at The Winning Post, Winkfield, and bedrooms have been refurbished at The Navigator, The Hawk and The Running Horse, in Lower Swanwick, Amport and Littleton respectively.
A new function room and conservatory access have been added at The Navigator, and additional outside service areas are soon to complete at both The George, Longbridge Deverill, and The Hawk.
At The Mill at Gordleton, a refurbishment of the main trading areas, including the conservatory terrace, is due to complete in the next few weeks.
Special events
At the start of February, a further piece of surplus land was also sold at The Winning Post for £200,000. More recently, a number of Upham’s pubs held special events to mark the royal wedding, with some excellent results: for the week ended May 20, The White Hart, Overton, recorded a 46.2% increase in gross sales compared to the same week in prior year, followed by The Winning Post at 41.4%.
Chief executive, Chris Phillips, said: “The sector as a whole has experienced a challenging start to the year, and I am delighted that, despite this, we are able to report that overall sales for the quarter were up from the same period last year.
“Our principal focus for 2018 is to ensure that we continue to maximise operational efficiencies and sustainable profits growth in both the pub estate and the brewery, while delivering the outstanding beer, food, accommodation and service that our customers have come to expect from us.
“We enjoyed a brilliant royal wedding weekend across our estate and look forward to a successful — and hopefully sunny — summer season.”
