Brewer toasts strong first half ahead of the Rugby World Cup
BRITISH pub chain Young & Co’s Brewery toasted a strong start to the year at its annual general meeting yesterday.
Chairman Nick Bryan reported that trading in the current year “has started well, with managed house sales for the first 13 weeks up 8.3 per cent in total and up 5.6 per cent on a like-for-like basis”.
Bryan told the board that “consumer confidence continues to grow as the economic recovery gathers momentum,” but warned that “we must retain a degree of caution as macro-economic risks remain” in the UK market.
Eight acquisitions were made by Young’s last year, with two new pubs in London – the Bull & Gate in Kentish Town and the Canonbury in Islington – and three more pubs in the works.
The company, which was founded in 1831 and is headquartered in Wandsworth, expects the Rugby World Cup 2015, hosted in England, to “be good for trade and to bring a feel-good factor to South West London.”
Now owned by Charles Wells after a brewing operations merger in 2006 and subsequent buyout in 2011, Young’s Brewery operates nearly 220 pubs in the London and the south east region.