Old Ship Sets Sail Under New Ownership

April 2, 2014

The Old Ship Inn in Hackney has been sold by Davis Coffer Lyons – the leisure specialists – to Urban Pubs & Bars Ltd – the new company set up by the founders of Realpubs, Malcolm Heap and Nick Pring, last year (2013). This purchase follows the opening of the company’s first site Whippet Inn in Kensal Rise last month.

Urban Pubs & Bars is now looking to grow an estate of up to 20 sites across Central London and it’s ‘urban villages’ over the next four years through the acquisition of further quality leasehold or freehold public houses, which are capable of achieving weekly sales in excess of £20,000.

The Old Ship Inn is a three-storey mid-terrace public house in a sought-after area of Hackney close to the London Fields Overground station and adjacent to Hackney Empire. The 4,850 sq ft pub has a stylish bar area on the ground floor with 10 en-suite four-star rated boutique hotel rooms over the upper floors. The area has benefitted from a number of investment and regeneration projects with planning consent recently granted for The Hackney Fashion Hub nearby.

Chris Bickle, Associate Director at Davis Coffer Lyonssaid: “Hackney is an increasingly sought after area of London particularly for independent operators. The area has experienced a seismic shift in popularity with the various travel infrastructure and commercial development projects. Average house prices are now in excess of £500,000 in the borough. The Old Ship Inn is perfectly positioned to serve the diverse customer base in the area.”

Malcom Heap of Urban Pubs & Bars added: “We are very excited to be in Hackney for our second site. The Old Ship Inn is a great pub and this will be our first foray into the pub hotel market; we expect the 10 rooms to continue to be a great income stream for the business.”

Realpubs was sold to Greene King in 2011 for £53.1m.