The Oakman Group's future has been secured with the sale of two high-value premium pubs to McMullen.

The deal will see The Rose in Wokingham and The Polecat in Prestwood become part of McMullen's pub estate.

This follows a review of strategic options for Oakman, including a potential sale of the business and new investment. The proceeds from the McMullen deal will enable Oakman to repay debt maturing in January 2025, while also providing additional capital for ongoing investment in the business.

CEO Peter Borg-Neal said: 'While it will be a sad moment when we say goodbye to these sites and to the wonderful teams that run them, we are delighted that they are going to a very good home with McMullen’s.'

'Everything I have learned about McMullen’s during this process encourages me to believe that they have similar values to Oakman and provide a seamless transfer for our people.'

Like many of his industry peers, he also cautioned about the impact of the budget, stating: “The recent budget announcements represent a severe body blow, as it does to the rest of our industry, and we will have no choice but to implement price increases to mitigate the swingeing increases in pre-profit tax.”

Oakman received advisory services for the transaction from Sapient Corporate Finance.