Cardiff-headquartered Drink and Food Group has acquired the lease on the Old Inn in Somerset which is the second pub in the south west in its portfolio.

The acquisition is part of its two-year expansion plan as the business looks to reach a forecasted turnover of £1 million.

Speaking of the acquisition,

Phil Kent, Head of Operations said:

“This is a fantastic acquisition for us as part of our national growth strategy.

“The Old Inn is reasonably close to another one of our pubs, The Old Bear Inn in Wiltshire; with both being selected for their rural setting with high-quality food offering.

The Old Inn will now fall under the day-to-day running of Phil during the initial opening phase who used to run the pub in a previous role.

Speaking of his return to the pub, Phil said:

“It’s funny how life and business work out but I am so excited to be back running the Old Inn. In our visits since completing the deal, I’ve been back to the pub and bumped into familiar faces amongst the locals and it’s great to hear the excitement is shared. What is pleasing is that we were able to retain all available staff as part of the deal, too.

“I’ll be splitting my time between the Old Inn and the Old Bear Inn and look forward to seeing more familiar faces, as well as new ones, very soon.”

Speaking of the national expansion, Ashley Govier, Director of Drink and Food Group said:

“Our plans are to acquire; we make no secret about that.

“I’ve been in the hospitality sector with other interests closer to home so to branch out further into the south west says a lot for our national ambitions.

“We’re speaking with new premises on the basis of further acquisitions and have seen 15 in the last 12 months alone. We certainly plan to add to the Drink and Food Group family very soon.”