Newcastle and Gateshead pubs sold to new owners after parent company went into administration

A string of pubs across the North East are now under new ownership their parent company went into administration.

The Millstone Hotel in Gosforth, The Elephant in Ashington, Dirty Habit in Whitley Bay, The Crown in Wickham and more across the region all went on the market in January 2024.

Punch Pubs and Co have acquired the 24-venue portfolio in the North East and Yorkshire under the sale of The Milton Three Pub Group.

Agents said sale of the portfolio attracted ‘a high level of interest from the corporate trade operators, many of whom had had a strong desire to grasp the opportunity to add a good-sized group of pubs’ to their holdings.

Emma Turnbull of Avison Young said: “Interest exceeded our expectation which demonstrates that the market remains strong for the right pub product in, what is, considered to be a difficult trading environment.”

She said the sale attracted two rounds of competitive bids with Punch Pubs and Co being the successful bidder for 24 pubs.

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One pub, The Victoria, in Whitley Bay, was stripped out and sold to Amber Taverns, which has already started work on a full refurbishment.

The pubs were operated by Queensway Advisory during the administration process, and Avison Young said the venues’ ‘overall trading performance exceeded the same period last year’.

The full list of pubs sold to Punch Pubs includes:

Black Bull, East Boldon

Black Bull, Morpeth

Britannia, Houghton

Cross Keys, Washington

The Crown, 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

Whistle Stop, Beeston

White Bear, Barnsley