Family owned Robinsons Brewery expand estate with chain of country inns

Stockport’s family owned brewery, Robinsons, has acquired Individual Inns, bringing six additional pubs into its portfolio.

Robinsons Brewery operate over 260 tenanted pubs in the North of England and Wales, and the acquisition brings the brewery’s managed estate up to 20 sites.

The six pubs include two in Cumbria, one in Lancashire, and three in Yorkshire. The acquisition means Robinsons Brewery will expand into Yorkshire for the first time in the family-owned brewery’s 181-year history.

The pubs Robinsons have bought are:

• The Masons Arms, near Kendal, Cumbria
• The Wheatsheaf, near Kendal, Cumbria
• The Spread Eagle, Sawley, Lancashire
• The Tempest Arms, Elslack, North Yorkshire
• The Fountaine Inn, near Skipton, North Yorkshire
• The Wheatley Arms, near Ilkley, West Yorkshire

William Robinson, Managing Director of the pubs division of the six-generation family owned brewery said:

We aim to offer great experiences through food, drinks or overnight stays, and see Individual Inns as a great example of a company that shares our values and standards and so hope the customers and the team at Individual Inns will feel that joining our family is a home from home.

“Ewan Harries and his management team have built a fantastic business over many years, and we look forward to working with them all as their great pubs join ours in a successful future. Their great success is underpinned by a local and personal touch on a pub by pub basis and we hope to both learn from, and add to their model, to make customers even more delighted in the years to come.

“This continues our aim to develop our tenanted and managed estates through selective investment schemes, and acquisition of pubs that are either trading well or have the potential to do so. However, opportunities like this don’t come up often and we are delighted to have been able to enhance our managed business through this deal.

“Our long-term strategy remains unchanged. We are committed to developing our people, growing the quality of our pub estate, and creating high-quality beers that our customers love to drink.”

Ewan Harries, Managing Director of Individual Inns, said:

I am also delighted that a family business has become the owner of Individual Inns. Our award-winning Group (Best Pub Group, 2018 Good Pub Guide) is ripe for expansion and a continued desire for excellence. Robinsons have that desire.”

The family owned brewery have invested over £26 million pounds in refurbishing their pubs over the last five years. In Stockport, Robinsons Brewery has refurbished and reopened the Royal Scot in Marple Bridge last month.

Pictured: The Wheatsheaf pub in Brigsteer, near Kendal, Cumbria, one of the pubs formerly run by Individual Inns and taken over by Robinsons Brewery.