Administrators appointed to former Wear Inns pubco

15-Nov-2023 - Last updated on 15-Nov-2023 at 12:38 GMT

On the market: all 25 former Wear Inns pubs are up for sale (credit: Getty/Shaun Taylor)

The property company that operated north-east-based pub business Wear Inns after it was acquired in August 2018 has gone into administration meaning all 25 sites are now on the market.

Administration business Interpath is now running the pubs until it can find a buyer for them.

Wear Inns was acquired by real estate business Aprirose in 2018 for £22.4m via its Milton Porfolio Holdings 3 firm while the sites were transferred into a business called Blackrose and the Wear Inns brand was liquidated in 2019.

Wear Inns was founded by pub entrepreneurs John Weir and John Sands in 2006.

All staff retained

Earlier this week (13 November 2023), Ryan Grant and Howard Smith from Interpath Advisory were appointed joint administrators to Milton Portfolio Op Co 3. At the same time, Grant and Smith were appointed joint Law of Property Act (LPA) receivers over 25 properties owned by Milton Portfolio Property 3 Limited.

Milton Portfolio Op Co 3 was the operator of the 25 pubs in locations across the north-east and Yorkshire.

The joint administrators will continue to trade all 25 sites while they seek a buyer for the business and its assets. Consequently, all circa 264 members of staff have been retained by the joint administrators to assist with trading.

Strong-performing pubs

Grant, managing director at Interpath Advisory, said: “This is a portfolio of profitable, strong-performing and established pubs, comprising 21 freeholds and four long leaseholds, located across the north-east of England and Yorkshire.

“We will be appointing selling agents in due course, with a view to bringing the portfolio to market at the optimum time to realise maximum value for creditors.”

The list of sites are Black Bull, East Boldon; Black Bull, Morpeth; Britannia, Houghton-Le-Spring; Cross Keys, Washington; Dirty Habit, Wickham; Dirty Habit, Whitley Bay; Elephant, Ashington; Greens, Sunderland; Guide Post Inn, Springwell Village; Lambton Arms, Chester-Le-Street; Lloyds Arms, Grimsby; Millstone Hotel, Gosforth; New Inn, Wetherby; Old Courthouse, Barnsley; Ox Inn, Oxhill; Porter Cottage, Sheffield; Prior, Doxford Park; Priory, York; Red Lion, Wakefield; Ship & Royal, South Shields; Smiths Arms, Billingham; Sun Hotel, Shipley; Victoria, Whitley Bay; Whistle Stop, Beeston; and White Bear, Barnsley.