Enterprise Inns and Oakman Inns & Restaurants have today announced the launch of a new venture under the name Hunky Dory Pubs.
The business will be the fourth Managed Expert partnership Enterprise has agreed as the Group partners with industry-leading managed house operators to benefit from their retailing capability.
Hunky Dory will open its first pub, The Beech House in Solihull, in August, and expects to announce further sites in the coming months.
Oakman Inns & Restaurants was founded by Peter Borg-Neal in 2005 and subsequently opened its first pub, The Akeman, in Tring in 2007.
The company now has 15 pubs across the Midlands and South East. Borg-Neal previously founded Forno Vivo, an Italian restaurant chain, in 2001 before selling the business in 2005.
Enterprise Inns CEO, Simon Townsend said, “We are delighted to have created a new business with the team at Oakman Inns. We have the highest regard for Peter and his colleagues, and are excited about the prospect of building the Hunky Dory business together. It is a key part of our strategy to bring the Managed Expert Programme into the Midlands and we look forward to opening our first site during the summer
Peter Borg-Neal said, “At Oakman we have some amazing people, considerable management expertise and a first class set of operating systems. Enterprise Inns own some of the best pubs in the country and we are certain that many of them can respond well to our management input.
'These complementary ingredients form the basis of our partnership. We have built up an excellent relationship with the senior management team at Enterprise and are looking forward to working with them in the future.”
Enterprise now has four pubs under its Enterprise Managed Investments model, all operating under the Hippo Inns brand, its first managed partnership with Rupert Clevely, the founder of Geronimo Inns. Further pubs are expected to open in the coming months under the Mash Inns partnership with Laine Pub Group and through the Frontier Pubs venture with Food & Fuel.
Enterprise expects to have 10 pubs trading under its various Managed Investments relationships by 30 September 2016.