Property Company of the Year – Leisure
Sponsored by Edward Symmons
Winner: Marston’s
Shortlist
• Legal & General
• Marston’s
• Travelodge
• X-Leisure
Marston’s Inns and Taverns, the managed house division of FTSE 250 company Marston’s plc, is unusual in the retail sector in that it participates in all parts of the development process, from identifying sites to building and operating them. In all it spends more than £50m a year on new outlets.
The company owns more than 2,000 pubs in England and Wales and operates five breweries. And it impressed our judges, who praised the company’s quality, noted improvements it has made and admired its aggressive expansion in a tough market.
Over the awards year, it opened 21 pub/restaurants, with nine under construction. A further 28 projects are in planning and 60 are at the legals/offer stage.
The company is not just sticking to tried-and-tested formulas. Convenience store operators are targeting pubs to expand their presence across the UK, and Marston’s is looking to accommodate them within its schemes. One of these formats is up and running in Kidderminster and the company has exchanged contracts with the Co-Op to build a 4,000 sq ft store adjacent to a trading pub – The Royal Charter in Hull.
