Punch Taverns has taken another slice of the Scottish pub market with the purchase of the Horseshoe Bar in Uddingston, South Lanarkshire. 

Located on Main Street next door to the historic Tunnock’s Tea Room, the Horseshoe Bar was acquired in an off market deal with the former freeholder for an undisclosed fee.

Neil Findlay, Punch’s acquisitions manager for Scotland, said: “We have been looking to acquire more pubs in this area for some time and the Horseshoe Bar is a great find.

“With its distinctive horseshoe shaped bar and prominent high street location this is certainly a business with strong potential and a welcome addition to the Punch Taverns portfolio.”

The Horseshoe is a traditional single storey building with both a lounge and public bar.  There is also space to the side of the pub for possible development as an area to accommodate smokers.

Neil said: “We will certainly be looking at introducing some kind of smoking solution at the Horseshoe Bar just as we have done with all Punch Taverns sites in Scotland.

“The ban certainly isn’t suppressing our appetite for acquisitions and so long as an effective solution can be implemented over time we are eager to take on more pubs.”

Local landlord Eddie Kearns has just finished negotiating with Punch over a new retailer agreement on the Horseshoe Bar.  He already runs the Punch owned Rowantree, also in Uddingston, and is looking forward to taking on his second leased pub business.

Eddie said: “Hopefully some of the regulars will recognise me because I worked part time behind the bar at the Horseshoe about ten years ago.  It’s great to be back and even better to be running the pub as my own business this time around.”

Punch Taverns is the UK’s largest pub owner with 9,500 leased, tenanted and managed outlets, including some 500 in Scotland.

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For further information please contact Nick Trueman or Peter Medlicott at Seal Communications on 0121 200 0780, email nicktrueman@sealcommunications.co.uk.