Mitchells & Butlers plc (also referred to as "M&B") runs circa 1,784 managed

pubs A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

, bars and restaurants throughout the United Kingdom. The company's headquarters are in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...

, England. The company is listed on the

London Stock Exchange London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange in the City of London, England, United Kingdom. , the total market value of all companies trading on LSE was £3.9 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St P ...

and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. Its branded restaurants and bars include

All Bar One All Bar One is a pub chain consisting of 56 bars in the United Kingdom, owned and operated by Mitchells and Butlers plc which was part of the Six Continents group (previously Bass) until 2003. Décor The concept was designed by Bass as a 'fema ...

, Miller & Carter,

Nicholson's frame, A label from a bottle of Nicholsons' Brown Ale Nicholson's was a small brewery operating from 1840 to 1960 in Maidenhead in the English county of Berkshire. History The brewery was founded in 1840 by William Nicholson (1820–1916), son of ...

Toby Carvery Toby Carvery is a British carvery chain brand owned and operated by Mitchells & Butlers, which consists of 158 restaurants. History Toby Carvery as a brand was founded as part of Bass Charrington in 1985. The parent company subsequently reb ...

, 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.

History

Historic brewing company

Mitchells & Butlers Brewery Mitchells & Butlers Brewery was formed when Henry Mitchell's old Crown Brewery (founded in Smethwick in 1866) merged with William Butler's Brewery (also founded in Smethwick in 1866) in 1898. Henry Mitchell had moved to the Cape Hill site in ...

was formed by the merger of two breweries in 1898. The company merged with Bass in 1961. With the brand currently under ownership of

Coors Brewers Coors Brewers Limited, later known as Molson Coors Brewing Company (UK) Limited is the UK arm of Molson Coors Beverage Company. Its headquarters is in Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire. The company originates from Bass Brewers Limited. The company ...

, the

brewery A brewery or brewing company is a business that makes and sells beer. The place at which beer is commercially made is either called a brewery or a beerhouse, where distinct sets of brewing equipment are called plant. The commercial brewing of bee ...

closed in 2002 with production switched to

Burton upon Trent Burton upon Trent, also known as Burton-on-Trent or simply Burton, is a market town in the borough of East Staffordshire in the county of Staffordshire, England, close to the border with Derbyshire. In 2011, it had a population of 72,299. The ...

. Their most famous beer was ''Brew XI'' (using Roman numerals, and so pronounced ''Brew Eleven''), advertised with the slogan "''for the men of the Midlands''". It is now brewed under licence for Coors by

Brains A brain is an organ that serves as the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals. It is located in the head, usually close to the sensory organs for senses such as vision. It is the most complex organ in a v ...

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

Bass

Bass plc, based in Burton-on-Trent, transformed into separate brewing and retail divisions following the

Beer Orders The Supply of Beer (Tied Estate) Order 1989 and The Supply of Beer (Loan Ties, Licensed Premises and Wholesale Prices) Order 1989, commonly known as the Beer Orders, were Statutory Instruments made by the United Kingdom Secretary of State for Tra ...

of 1989 and then proceeded to build a large hotel portfolio alongside its

bingo Bingo or B-I-N-G-O may refer to: Arts and entertainment Gaming * Bingo, a game using a printed card of numbers ** Bingo (British version), a game using a printed card of 15 numbers on three lines; most commonly played in the UK and Ireland ** Bi ...

, 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 the

Forte Group Forte Group plc was a British hotel and restaurant company. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index until it was acquired by Granada in 1996. Its head office was in the London Borough of Camden. ...

Six Continents

In 2000, Bass also divested its brewing arm and rebranded itself

Six Continents Six Continents was a large British-based hotel and hospitality business which was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. History The company was formed in June 2000 when the brewing business of Ba ...

before another split in April 2003 into two separate companies, with the hotel assets forming

InterContinental Hotels Group InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG), marketed as IHG Hotels & Resorts, is a British multinational hospitality company headquartered in Denham, Buckinghamshire, England. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the F ...

and the Mitchells & Butlers name brought back for the pubs and restaurants company. In March 2003, Six Continents fought off a proposed £5.5 billion takeover by

Hugh Osmond Hugh Edward Mark Osmond (born March 1962) is an entrepreneur and businessman and was the founder of Punch Taverns, one of the UK's largest chains of public houses. Early life Hugh Edward Mark Osmond was born in March 1962, the son of a doctor, a ...

(Punch Taverns).

M and B

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. In February 2008,

Punch Taverns Punch Pubs & Co is a pub and bar operator in the United Kingdom, with around 1,300 leased pubs. It is headquartered in the traditional brewing centre of Burton upon Trent in Staffordshire. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange as a constit ...

offered to merge with Mitchells & Butlers, but decided not to in April 2008. Mitchells & Butlers then took an interest in Punch's subsidiary,

Spirit Group Spirit or spirits may refer to: Liquor and other volatile liquids * Spirits, a.k.a. liquor, distilled alcoholic drinks * Spirit or tincture, an extract of plant or animal material dissolved in ethanol * Volatile (especially flammable) liquids, ...

Financial loss

In January 2008, Mitchells & Butlers announced significant losses (£274 million) arising out of closure of hedge positions taken in anticipation of a property joint venture that were eventually cancelled due to the

credit crunch A credit crunch (also known as a credit squeeze, credit tightening or credit crisis) is a sudden reduction in the general availability of loans (or credit) or a sudden tightening of the conditions required to obtain a loan from banks. A credit cr ...

caused by the

subprime mortgage financial crisis The United States subprime mortgage crisis was a multinational financial crisis that occurred between 2007 and 2010 that contributed to the 2007–2008 global financial crisis. It was triggered by a large decline in US home prices after the coll ...

Acquisitions

By 2006, Mitchells & Butlers had 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. In July 2006, Mitchells & Butlers purchased 239 pub restaurants ( Beefeater and

Brewers Fayre Brewers Fayre is a licensed pub restaurant chain, with 161 locations across the UK as of August 2018. Owned by Whitbread, Brewers Fayre restaurants are known for serving traditional British pub food and for their Sunday Carvery. History The f ...

without a

Premier Inn Premier Inn is a British limited service hotel chain and the UK's largest hotel brand, with more than 72,000 rooms and 800 hotels. It operates hotels in a variety of locations including city centres, suburbs and airports competing with the like ...

) from

Whitbread Whitbread plc is a multinational British hotel and restaurant company headquartered in Houghton Regis, England. The business was founded as a brewery in 1742, and had become the largest brewery in the world by the 1780s. Its largest division ...

for £497 million to strengthen its food business ahead of the introduction of a smoking ban in enclosed public spaces in England in 2007. It had first announced its interest in April 2006. In July 2008, Mitchells & Butlers bought 44 more former

and Beefeater outlets from Whitbread in exchange for 21

Holiday Inn Holiday Inn is an American chain of hotels based in Atlanta, Georgia. and a brand of IHG Hotels & Resorts. The chain was founded in 1952 by Kemmons Wilson, who opened the first location in Memphis, Tennessee that year. The chain was a division ...

hotels. The acquired sites were rebranded into Mitchells and Butlers flagship brands Harvester and

. In September 2010, Mitchells & Butlers bought the 22 restaurants of the (upmarket) ''Ha Ha!'' chain from the

Bay Restaurant Group The Bay Restaurant Group is a hospitality company in the United Kingdom, specialising in restaurant and pub chains. History The company originates from three former companies: Yates's, SFI Group and the Laurel Pub Company. Laurel Pub Company ...

for £19.5 million. Twelve were turned into All Bar One and six into Browns Restaurants. The ''Ha Ha!'' brand disappeared. 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.

Sale of pubs

In October 2006, Mitchells & Butlers sold off 102 of its smaller community pubs to Chorley-based

Trust Inns Trust Inns Ltd is a pub company based in Chorley, Lancashire. Trust Inns own nearly 500 tenanted pubs in England, Wales and Scotland. Trust Inns specialises in buying pubs and then renting them to tenants, who pay rent to Trust Inns while they live ...

for £101 million. On 15 July 2010, it was announced that

Travelodge Travelodge (formerly TraveLodge) refers to several hotel chains around the world. Current operations include: the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Spain, Ireland, New Zealand, Australia and several countries in Asia. However, ma ...

had acquired the leases of 52 Innkeeper's Lodge Hotels around

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

, Birmingham,

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

, Northampton, Milton Keynes and

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by popula ...

areas from Mitchells & Butlers. It also sold 12 Hollywood Bowl outlets in August 2010 for £39 million to

AMF Bowling AMF Bowling (AMF Bowling Worldwide) is a major operator of Bowling alley, bowling centers and major manufacturer of bowling equipment. The AMF brand continues in use by the following companies: * In the United States and Mexico, for the AMF Bo ...

and 13 to

Tenpin Ten-pin bowling is a type of bowling in which a bowler rolls a bowling ball down a wood or synthetic lane toward ten pins positioned evenly in four rows in an equilateral triangle. The objective is to knock down all ten pins on the first roll ...

. In November 2010, Mitchells & Butlers sold 333 pubs to the

Stonegate Pub Company Stonegate Pub Company is the largest pub company in the UK, operating around 4,800 managed, leased and tenanted pubs . It is owned by TDR Capital. The head office is based in Solihull, UK, and the company is registered in the Cayman Islands. Hi ...

(of London and owned by

TDR Capital TDR Capital is a British private equity firm headquartered in London, England. History TDR Capital was co-founded in 2002 by Manjit Dale, Stephen Robertson, and Tudor Capital.

) or £373 million.

Poor results and dismissal of CEO

In September 2015, Mitchells & Butlers issued a profits warning and dismissed CEO Alistair Darby. He was replaced by

Phil Urban Philip Charles Urban (born 9 February 1963) is CEO of Mitchells & Butlers, which runs around 1,700 managed pubs, bars and restaurants throughout the United Kingdom. Early life Philip Charles Urban was born in February 1963 in Wood Green. Urba ...

, who joined as COO in January from Grosvenor Casinos and previously ran Whitbread's pub restaurants division.

Operations

Mitchells & Butlers owns several brands of pubs, including: * Alex *

* Browns Restaurants * Castle * Crown Carveries * Ember Inns * Harvester * Innkeeper's Lodge * Oak Tree * Orchid Pubs * Premium Country Pubs (formerly Premium Country Dining Group) * Miller and Carter * Nicholson's *

O'Neill's O'Neills Irish International Sports Company Ltd. is an Irish sporting goods manufacturer established in 1918. It is the largest manufacturer of sportswear in Ireland, with production plants located in Dublin and Strabane. O'Neills has a long r ...

* Sizzling Pubs * Stonehouse Pizza & Carvery *

* Vintage Inns Nicholson's pubs tend to be historic pubs aimed at the tourist market, located in London and other historic cities. Amongst Mitchells & Butlers' portfolio is

Ye Olde Fighting Cocks Ye Olde Fighting Cocks is a public house in St Albans, Hertfordshire, England. It is one of several pubs that lay claim to being the oldest in England, claiming to have been in business since 793 AD. The pub was once recognized as the oldest in ...

, a St Albans public house listed by the '' Guinness Book of Records'' as being the United Kingdom's oldest.

References

External links

Mitchells & Butlers plc
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mitchells and Butlers Companies based in Smethwick Restaurants established in 2003 Companies listed on the London Stock Exchange Defunct breweries of the United Kingdom Tavistock Group 2003 establishments in England