{"id":565915,"date":"2026-05-04T16:14:18","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T16:14:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/565915\/"},"modified":"2026-05-04T16:14:18","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T16:14:18","slug":"greene-king-to-sell-150-pubs-amid-fears-brits-cutting-back-on-spending","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/565915\/","title":{"rendered":"Greene King to sell 150 pubs amid fears Brits cutting back on spending"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of Britain’s largest pub chains is to sell 150 pubs with another 300 sites facing restructuring as rising costs and changing consumer habits see less Brits going out for a pint, bosses said<\/p>\n

10:21, 04 May 2026Updated 10:40, 04 May 2026<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

Greene King is putting pubs up for sale(Image: Getty Images\/iStockphoto)<\/p>\n

The boss of pub company Greene King has said 150 of its pubs <\/a>will be put up for sale as “unprecedented” costs are hammering the hospitality sector.<\/p>\n

The company, among Britain’s biggest chains<\/a>, is planning to sell off up to 150 pubs in March, with chief executive Nick Mackenzie blaming the decision on soaring costs and “changing consumer behaviour”.<\/p>\n

The company also plans to shift 300 pubs into a separate division, chief executive Nick Mackenzie told City AM, with half destined to become leased or tenanted establishments and the other half marked for disposal.<\/p>\n

Greene King also produces Greene King IPA, Old Speckled Hen and Belhaven beers<\/a>. The Chinese-owned pub company is facing unprecedented costs, Mackenzie said. Delivering the company’s annual results he said: \u201cLong-term permanent reform from government is essential to ensure that unprecedented costs do not hold back the enormous potential of the sector.”<\/p>\n

He said the sell-off of pubs was part of a regular assessment of the Greene King portfolio, adding that the firm was getting ahead of the game in response to a changing economic landscape, reports Business Live<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

(Image: PA)<\/p>\n

Mackenzie said the move was due to “the cost environment that our industry has faced for the last five years, which is increased employment costs, increased cost of goods through events like the Ukraine<\/a> war and now obviously what’s happening in Iran and the general economy”.<\/p>\n

Greene King has also deployed AI-powered assistants to work in its pubs with a “virtual assistant” called “Charlie” used to handle telephone calls at several locations, including venues across London.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for Greene King told City AM said they have “been trialling an AI conversational voice assistant in select pubs and restaurants as we look to leverage digital capabilities and drive efficiencies across our estate.”<\/p>\n

Mackenzie pointed the finger at business rates, following changes to the tax in last year’s Budget<\/a> that saw bills soar for thousands of pubs. The pub boss said: “Business rates are unbalanced for our sector so we want the reform that was promised, and the fundamental reform is to rebalance the level of business rates taxation that our sector pays.”<\/p>\n

Mackenzie serves on the government’s hospitality advisory board and said he is pressuring Labour to slash taxes on beer and reconsider its implementation of guaranteed hours rules for workers on zero-hour contracts. Mackenzie also said he is “worried” Brits may tighten their belts on non-essential spending such as pub visits as consumer confidence plummets to its lowest level in more than two years.<\/p>\n

He said that this summer’s World Cup will boost Greene King’s takings however, with government pledges to allow pubs extended opening hours. Greene King recorded a 3.6 per cent increase in revenue to \u00a32.5bn last year, delivering an operating profit of \u00a394m, a dramatic turnaround from a \u00a316m loss the previous year.<\/p>\n

The pub giant is presently building a new \u00a340m brewery in Bury St Edmunds, which is set to launch next year. The company poured \u00a310m into its London portfolio this year, with prominent venues including the Blue Posts in Soho and The Railway Tavern on Liverpool Street amongst those to receive investment.<\/p>\n

Greene King operates roughly 2,600 pubs throughout Britain, with 840 under direct management, while the rest function through franchise or tenancy agreements.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One of Britain’s largest pub chains is to sell 150 pubs with another 300 sites facing restructuring as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":565916,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[22241,390,84,59,157262,2975,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-565915","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-beer","tag-breaking-news","tag-business","tag-gb","tag-greene-king","tag-pubs","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/565915","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=565915"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/565915\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/565916"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=565915"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=565915"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=565915"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}