BUTCOMBE GROUP UNVEILS RECORD-BREAKING YEAR WITH MANAGED PUB EBITDA JUMP OF 23%

Investment and innovation across managed pubs, Butcombe Boutique Inns and premium brewing and brands arm fuels revenue growth and profits surge.

BUTCOMBE GROUP, the award-winning pub operator and brewer led by CEO Jonathan Lawson and backed by Caledonia Private Capital, has unveiled financial results for the year to the end of January, revealing an exceptionally strong period for the group.

 

Highlights for the 53 weeks to 31 January 2026 include:

  • Underlying Group EBITDA of £15m, with a growth of 9.1% versus last year
  • A managed pub EBITDA-jump of 23%, with LFL sales up 8%
  • UK Butcombe Pubs & Inns delivered 9.7% LFL growth, with Boutique Inns delivering 12.5% LFL growth
  • UK brewing and drinks sales up 5%; EBITDA up 3%
  • Winner of The Publican Awards Best Pub Employer 2026 and recognised in The Sunday Times Best Places To Work 2026

 

Commenting on the performance, Jonathan Lawson, CEO of Butcombe Group, said:

“We are very pleased to share these results, which graphically illustrates a strong year with all areas of our business contributing. First and foremost, this performance is only possible due to the considerable and concerted efforts of our amazing people, and I’d like to express my sincere thanks to all of them.

“The 12-month period to the end of January 2026 was a very strong year for Butcombe Group. The growth that we delivered was all-the-more impressive, in that it followed a prior year of significant growth and momentum for the business.

“We continue to build a leading, premium pubs and boutique inns business, allied to a first-class beer, brands and drinks operation, all underpinned by operational excellence, innovation and strategic investment, with strong momentum as we head into our new financial year.”

 

MANAGED PUBS AND INNS

Our 70-strong managed pub and inns have been the group’s stand-out performer, with sector-leading like-for-like growth of 8%, including drink at 10.1%, food at 6.5% and accommodation at 5.3% LFL. In addition, we have delivered improved gross margins, reduced labour-to-sales ratios and realised a significant improvement in EBITDA margin.

During the period, we unveiled the latest site under our premium Butcombe Boutique Inns brand – The Welldiggers Arms in Petworth. This proposition, which now comprises 12 locations, delivered 12.5% like-for-like growth, with guests responding well to this premium offer. Since the year end, we have also re-opened The Brown Cow in Fulham, one of our biggest ever pub investments in London, followed by The Mayflower in Lymington, in the New Forest, Hampshire. In addition to that, we are on site at The Dundas Arms in Kintbury and The Methuen Arms in Corsham, as we continue to invest in spaces that cater to a wider breadth of events and occasions.

Alongside a significant investment programme, we are committed to driving our performance through innovation. We have focused heavily on under-exploited dayparts, most notably breakfast, with ‘morning food’ sales up 25.9%, like-for-like. Our focus on loyalty means that 25.3% of sales in managed pubs are linked to our customer loyalty programme. Over the past year, we have evolved it into a data-led growth platform, developing seven customer personas to enable more personalised offers, communications and experiences. Looking ahead, we will build on this momentum with further developments, including AI-driven hyper-personalisation, to deliver a more seamless consumer journey.

 

TENANTED PUBS

Our 48-strong tenanted pub division has performed resiliently in a mature market and we continue to invest in these businesses, which are located primarily on the Channel Islands. Most recently, we completed a major investment at The Blue Note in St Helier, Jersey, with our long-term partners there, and are delighted with the results.

 

BREWING & DRINKS

Brewing award-winning beers and supplying a wide range of premium drinks is a key part of our business, and we made strong progress during the period. The UK Butcombe drinks business achieved sales growth of 5%, with EBITDA up 3%. Our success in the low and no alcohol beer category continues and is a key driver in the growth of the drinks arm of the business, with the category up 63% for the year and our flagship brew Goram IPA Zero growing a further 57%. Butcombe Original continues to flourish and is now the top cask ale brand in the South West and in the top ten, nationally, with the can format awarded Gold at the International Brewing Awards in February this year. It has continued to win distribution, with listings in Marks & Spencer, Waitrose, Morrisons and Tesco.

 

PEOPLE

These results are only possible due to the efforts of our amazing teams and we aim to be a leading business and employer. Since the year end, the company has scooped two significant accolades: we were named Best Employer at the 2026 Publican Awards and more recently, we were named in The Sunday Times Best Places To Work 2026, for the second year running.

 

CURRENT TRADING & OUTLOOK

Trading in the first quarter of the current financial year has been strong and very much in line with our expectations. We remain in good like-for-like growth across our business, against strong comparatives in Q1 last year of 10.3%. In our first quarter of the year, our managed pubs have delivered LFL growth of 3.6% with 3.7% growth on food, 3.1% on drink and 5.8% accommodation. Looking at accommodation, we have achieved occupancy of 74% which was up 1.6% on last year and our Butcombe Boutique Inns specifically have seen 5.2% growth LFL and an uplift of 2.7% in occupancy.

Key events and occasions remain hugely important, with double the number of weddings already hosted in Q1 compared to last year. We saw a 10% LFL growth across the four-day Easter weekend in managed pubs and Mother’s Day was one of our highest trading days of the year, once again. Plus, only last week during May half-term, we achieved fantastic LFL growth of +15.5% on top of +8.2% in the same week last year, to deliver our highest ever sales week outside of the Christmas period.

Looking forward, the trading environment is less certain than we envisaged six months ago, with low consumer confidence and the likelihood of rising inflation in the second half of the year, particularly on food. We will do our best to protect our customers from these pressures and take a long-term view on what is the right thing for our business, an approach that has served us well over the last five years with the support of Caledonia.