Four London pubs go up for sale – including the Ten Bells
Four pubs run by East London Pub Co. have gone up for sale this week as cost-of-living pressures and work from home initiatives continue to take their toll on the capital’s bar scene.
The Ten Bells in Spitalfields, The Saxon in Clapham, The Lock Tavern in Camden, and The Gun in Spitalfields are named as the four pubs for sale, according to Bloomberg reports.
The listings come after East London Pub Co. filed for insolvency in 2023.
Director at Savills Plc — the estate agent selling the assets — Ed Sandall told Bloomberg: “It is extremely rare to have four London sites of this caliber come to the market, all of which are located in a prime leisure circuit and produce exceptional level of revenue.”
The London bar scene has struggled to return to pre-pandemic levels, the outlet said, as inflation of alcoholic drinks reached 9.9 per cent at the end of 2023. This is the highest level since the early 1990s, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics.
Administrator reports from Wednesday show the East London Pub Co. was hit hard by the pandemic, the outlet said, with different entities taking out government-backed loans to help with the lockdown.
In the second half of the year, the hospitality sector faced “worrying” signs as pub insolvencies jumped 66 per cent in November.