Amber gets the £5m funding signal to open more pubs

The funding comes in the form of a £4m revolving credit facility (RCF) from Lloyds Bank Corporate Markets Merseyside plus £1m in loan notes from LGV Capital (LGV), the company’s majority shareholders.

Community pub operator Amber Taverns was founded in 2005 and purchased in October 2010 by LGV, which backed the existing management team led by chairman Clive Preston, to continue its strategy of taking struggling community pubs and revitalising them to create sustainable businesses.

It currently has around 70 public houses across North West, North East, Midlands and Wales. These include: The Royal Morley, Leeds; Last Orders, Keighley; Chennells, Barnsley; The Tumbler, Doncaster; The County, Rotherham.

Clive Preston, chairman of Amber Taverns, which is based in Blackpool, said: “It’s been an exciting five years during which we have demonstrated time after time that good wet-led pubs are a sound investment and provide a valuable local amenity. We have a highly professional management team who between them have decades of experience in the licensed trade and have the ability to source the best located properties, fit them out to a very high standard and put in true value for money pricing.

“We are grateful for the unceasing support from the Lloyds Bank Corporate Markets and the help and guidance of our majority shareholder LGV.”

Tim Rigg, Lloyds Bank corporate markets area director, Merseyside, North Wales and West Lancashire, added: “We have been working with the Amber Taverns team for a number of years. Their ongoing success and growth is impressive, not least in the current economic climate.

“Their business success will undoubtedly have a ripple effect on the supply chain within the areas they operate in which is good news for the North of England. Amber’s continued growth strategy is possible on the strength of the funding support.

“The provision of this latest funding facility demonstrates the bank’s commitment to supporting strong businesses in the North of England with appropriate finance.”

Bill Priestley, a managing director at LGV, said: “We were delighted to make a further investment in Amber to support the management team in its expansion plans. Since we first invested, this time last year, the business has gone from strength to strength and has made a number of successful acquisitions, whilst generating very healthy like-for-like sales growth in its mature estate.”