 | |
| Company type | Public |
|---|---|
| Industry | Restaurants, Pubs |
| Founded | 1898; 127 years ago (1898) |
| Headquarters | Birmingham, England |
Area served | United Kingdom Germany |
Key people | Bob Ivell (chairman) Phil Urban (CEO) |
| Products | c. 1784 restaurants and pubs |
| Revenue |  £2,610 million (2024)[1] |
| £312 million (2024)[1] | |
| £149 million (2024)[1] | |
Number of employees | 50,455 (2024)[1] |
| Subsidiaries | All Bar One Browns Restaurants Harvester Innkeeper's Lodge Miller & Carter Toby Carvery |
| Website | mbplc |
Mitchells & Butlers plc (also referred to as "M&B") runs circa 1,784 managedpubs, bars and restaurants throughout the United Kingdom. The company's headquarters are inBirmingham, England. The company is listed on theLondon Stock Exchange and is a constituent of theFTSE 250 Index.
Its branded restaurants and bars includeAll Bar One, Miller & Carter,Nicholson's,Toby Carvery,Harvester,Browns Restaurants, Vintage Inns, Ember Inns, Son of Steak, Stonehouse Pizza & Grill, Crown Carveries,O'Neill's, Premium Country Pubs, and Sizzling Pubs. The company also owns the ALEX brand based in Germany.[2]
Mitchells & Butlers Brewery was formed by the merger of two breweries in 1898.[3] The company merged withBass in 1961.[3] With the brand currently under ownership ofCoors Brewers, thebrewery closed in 2002 with production switched toBurton upon Trent.[4] Their most famous beer wasBrew XI (usingRoman numerals, and so pronouncedBrew Eleven), advertised with the slogan "for the men of the Midlands". It is now brewed under licence for Coors byBrains ofCardiff.[5]
Bass plc, based in Burton-on-Trent, transformed into separate brewing and retail divisions following theBeer Orders of 1989[3] and then proceeded to build a large hotel portfolio alongside itsbingo, betting and electronic leisure interests. In the late 1990s the latter interests were sold. On 21 July 1995, Bass bought 78 Harvester restaurants for £165 million from theForte Group.[6]
In 2000, Bass also divested its brewing arm and rebranded itselfSix Continents[7] before another split in April 2003 into two separate companies, with the hotel assets formingInterContinental Hotels Group and the Mitchells & Butlers name brought back for the pubs and restaurants company.[8] In March 2003, Six Continents fought off a proposed £5.5 billion takeover byHugh Osmond (Punch Taverns).[9]
Mitchells & Butlers was formed on 15 April 2003. In April 2006, it was approached by a consortium led by Robert Tchenguiz in a £2.7 billion takeover, which was dropped in May 2006.[10] In February 2008,Punch Taverns offered to merge with Mitchells & Butlers,[11] but decided not to in April 2008.[12] Mitchells & Butlers then took an interest in Punch's subsidiary,Spirit Group.[13]
In January 2008, Mitchells & Butlers announced significant losses (£274 million)[14] arising out of closure ofhedge positions taken in anticipation of a property joint venture that were eventually cancelled due to thecredit crunch caused by thesubprime mortgage financial crisis.[15][16]
By 2006, Mitchells & Butlers operated 130 Harvester restaurants. In 2001, it added Arena, Ember Inns, Flares, Goose, Sizzling Pub Co, Browns, Alex (in Germany), and Inn Keeper's Lodge to its list of brands.[17] In July 2006, Mitchells & Butlers purchased 239 pub restaurants (Beefeater andBrewers Fayre without aPremier Inn) fromWhitbread for £497 million to strengthen its food business ahead of the introduction of asmoking ban in enclosed public spaces in England in 2007.[18] It had first announced its interest in April 2006.[19] In July 2008, Mitchells & Butlers bought 44 more formerBrewers Fayre andBeefeater outlets from Whitbread in exchange for 21Holiday Inn hotels. The acquired sites were rebranded into Mitchells and Butlers flagship brandsHarvester andToby Carvery.[20] In September 2010, Mitchells & Butlers bought the 22 restaurants of the (upmarket)Ha Ha! chain from theBay Restaurant Group for £19.5 million. Twelve were turned into All Bar One and six intoBrowns Restaurants. TheHa Ha! brand disappeared.[21]
In June 2014, the company announced plans to acquire the bulk of one of its major competitors, Orchid Group, for £266 million. The acquisition included 173 pubs.[22]
In October 2006, Mitchells & Butlers sold off 102 of its smaller community pubs toChorley-basedTrust Inns for £101 million.[23] On 15 July 2010, it was announced thatTravelodge had acquired the leases of 52 Innkeeper's Lodge Hotels aroundGlasgow, Birmingham,Liverpool,Northampton,Milton Keynes andLeeds areas from Mitchells & Butlers.[24] It also sold 12Hollywood Bowl outlets in August 2010 for £39 million toAMF Bowling and 13 toTenpin.[25] In November 2010, Mitchells & Butlers sold 333 pubs to theStonegate Pub Company (of London and owned byTDR Capital) or £373 million.[26]
In September 2015, Mitchells & Butlers issued a profits warning and dismissed CEO Alistair Darby. He was replaced byPhil Urban, who joined as COO in January from Grosvenor Casinos and previously ran Whitbread's pub restaurants division.[27]
Mitchells & Butlers owns several brands of pubs, including:[28]
Nicholson's pubs tend to be historic pubs aimed at the tourist market, located in London and other historic cities. Amongst Mitchells & Butlers' portfolio isYe Olde Fighting Cocks, aSt Albans public house that was previously listed by theGuinness Book of Records as being the United Kingdom's oldest.[29]