Yorkshire pubs bought by family-owned Robinsons Brewery

A pub company which owns six premises – including three in Yorkshire – has been acquired.

Individual Inns has been bought by Cheshire-based Robinsons Brewery, a sixth generation family business, operate over 260 tenanted and managed pubs in the north of England and Wales.

The Yorkshire pubs within Individual Inns’ portfolio are The Wheatley Arms, in Ben Rydding, West Yorkshire, The Fountaine Inn, at Linton in Craven, North Yorkshire and The Tempest Arms in Elslack, also North Yorkshire. Its other three premises are in Cumbria and Lancashire.

The six pubs expands Robinsons Brewery’s managed estate to 20 sites and strengthens its estate in Cumbria. Its move into Yorkshire means it is advancing into a previously untapped county.

William Robinson, the managing director of the Pubs Division of Robinsons 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.”

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.”

Robinson added: “As recently reported, we have a track record of investing in training and pub refurbishments having spent £26.7m on 127 pubs over the last five years as we prepare for a healthy future.

“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.”