Yates is a British pub chain. It was founded as Yates's Wine Lodge in

Oldham Oldham is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, amid the Pennines and between the rivers Irk and Medlock, southeast of Rochdale and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, w ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancas ...

by Peter and Simon Yates in 1884.

History

Yates's Wine Lodge, St James's Street, Burnley - geograph

Yates is Britain's oldest pub chain. Its motto was ''moderation is true

temperance Temperance may refer to: Moderation *Temperance movement, movement to reduce the amount of alcohol consumed *Temperance (virtue), habitual moderation in the indulgence of a natural appetite or passion Culture * Temperance (group), Canadian dan ...

''. The founders, brothers Peter and Simon Yates, were from

Preston Preston is a place name, surname and given name that may refer to: Places England *Preston, Lancashire, an urban settlement **The City of Preston, Lancashire, a borough and non-metropolitan district which contains the settlement **County Boro ...

. Peter (who lived from April 22, 1854–1944) was sent to Spain to learn about wine. Simon went to the US to learn about business methods. The first Yates Wine Lodge opened in Oldham in 1884.

Ownership

Public company

On July 23, 1994, Yates became a public company owned by the Yates Group PLC (Yates Brothers Wine Lodges PLC). The Yates Group also owned Ha! Ha! Bar & Canteen and operated pubs under the Blob Shop and Addisons name. In the late 1990s, its

share price A share price is the price of a single share of a number of saleable equity shares of a company. In layman's terms, the stock price is the highest amount someone is willing to pay for the stock, or the lowest amount that it can be bought for. B ...

rose to reach a high of 550p in 1998. In June 2001, the Yates Group entered

takeover In business, a takeover is the purchase of one company (the ''target'') by another (the ''acquirer'' or ''bidder''). In the UK, the term refers to the acquisition of a public company whose shares are listed on a stock exchange, in contrast to ...

talks with

Luminar Group Rekom UK (formerly The Deltic Group Limited & The Luminar Group Ltd.) is a private company with an estate of 46 nightclubs and has the largest square footage of nightclub capacity in the United Kingdom. History Luminar Group Holdings plc was ...

. In July 2001, it withdrew from takeover talks and saying it would instead sell off 25 of its pubs, later putting 18 of them up for sale. On November 1, 2001, the Yates Group sold eight pubs to Morrells for £4 million, with four being in Grantham, Slough, Solihull and Tunbridge Wells. In October 2003, Yates sold its Aussie White fortified brand to

Halewood International Halewood Artisanal Spirits is a global distiller and distributor of artisanal spirits. Structure Halewood Artisanal Spirit's head office is in London and the company distills across the UK, at the following locations: London, Edinburgh, Sn ...

for £1 million.

Management buyout

In June 2004, when 30 per cent of the company was owned by the Dickson and Yates family, the Yates Group had a management

buyout In finance, a buyout is an investment transaction by which the ownership equity of a company, or a majority share of the stock of the company is acquired. The acquiror thereby "buys out" the present equity holders of the target company. A buyout ...

offer (MBO) funded by

GI Partners GI Partners is a leading upper middle market private equity firm based in San Francisco, California. Description Founded in 2001, GI Partners is a private investment firm with over 100 employees with offices in San Francisco, New York, Chicago ...

. At the time, the company was valued at £98.4 million (140p a share) and employed 4,000 people. While GI Partners only received 16 per cent of acceptances from shareholders (not the 90 per cent it was looking for), the bid proceeded in October 2004.

Takeover by Laurel Pub Company

By 2005, the Yates Group had grown to 125 Yates pubs and 25 Ha! Ha! bars. In April 2005, the company was approached by the Tchenguiz-owned

Laurel Pub Company 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 ...

and a £200-million merger was completed on May 20, 2005. A few weeks later, Laurel bought many of the sites belonging to the bankrupt SFI Group PLC, who owned

Slug and Lettuce Slug and Lettuce is a chain of bars that operate in the United Kingdom, with a large number located in London and South East England. As of 2017, there are a total of 70 outlets. Hugh Corbett opened the first Slug and Lettuce in Islington in ...

Administration

On 27 March 2008, Laurel was put into

administration Administration may refer to: Management of organizations * Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal ** Administrative Assistant, traditionally known as a Secretary, or also known as an administrative officer, admini ...

Business

There are still more than 70 Yates pubs or bars in the UK, although there is no longer one in Oldham. The site of the original Yates Wine Lodge is now a

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation is an American multinational fast food chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechristened their business as a hambur ...

and is marked by a plaque on Oldham High Street. Some Yates have been converted to

pubs in recent years. Yates Australian White continues to be made by

and is sold in 35-centilitre, 70-centilitre and 1.5-litre containers.

References

External links

Official website
(archived) * {{Authority control 1884 establishments in the United Kingdom Companies based in Luton Companies based in Oldham Restaurants established in 1884 Companies formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange History of Oldham Pub chains Stonegate Pub Company