Midland pub companies Punch Taverns and Enterprise Inns could be hit in the pocket by the expected collapse of a large Norfolk pub group.
London Town is set to delist from the AIM market, and accountants PricewaterhouseCoopers has already been lined up to carry out an expected pre-pack administration deal.
But the firm manages a number of pubs owned by Punch and Enterprise, which are based in Staffordshire and Solihull respectively.
The wing of the business that dealt with the managed pubs – GRS Inns – is not believed to form part of the plans for the post-administration, meaning the sites would go back to the Punch and Enterprise portfolios and leave them looking for new tenants.
Nearly 50 Punch and Enterprise pubs are run by GRS Inns.
The large Midland pub groups have struggled to find takes for pub sites, with income and margins at licensed premises feeling the squeeze.
Both have also spent a large part of the last year trying to dispose of pub premises to shore up huge debts at both of the firms.
London Town has a total of 407 managed and tenanted pubs. In the year to December 28 it reported pre-tax losses of £24.7m.
