​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Our history​​​

Enterprise Inns was founded in 1991 and has grown over time to become the leading leased and tenanted pub business in the UK.

1991

Following the monopolies and mergers review chief executive Ted Tuppen leads the management buy-in of 368 pubs from Bass that marks the birth of Enterprise Inns.

1995

​​Further acquisitions take the estate to 486 pubs. Strong profit growth enables a successful flotation on the London Stock Exchange in November

1996

The acquisition of John Labatt (UK) Limited for £62 million. The additional 413 pubs enabled Enterprise to become a national company

1997

The acquisition of Discovery Inns for £46 million saw a further 277 pubs in areas of the country previously not well represented

1998

Enterprise buys Mayfair Taverns for £37.4m; the 276 pubs provide greater presence in the North West, East Midlands and South East of England

1999

Century Inns is acquired for £79.1m, 498 tenanted and managed houses

1999

217 pubs are acquired from Bass for £69.3m. The estate is now 2,430 strong

2000

Enterprise buys the Swallow Inns and Restaurants business from Whitbread for £115m. The 183 pubs include 144 that were managed. Thirty of the high-end managed houses are sold on for £50m. All are then converted to lease and tenancies

2001

439 former Whitbread managed pubs are bought from Morgan Grenfell Private Equity for £266.7m

2001

432 managed pubs are bought from Scottish & Newcastle for £263.6m as part of a joint acquisition with Robert Breare's Noble House Leisure

2002

Enterprise invests £75m for a 16.8% stake in Newco, a consortium created to buy 3,219 Unique and 940 Voyager pubs for more than £2b from Japanese investment bank Nomura 

2002
Enterprise acquires 1,860 pubs from Laurel Pub Holdings for £875m, taking the estate to 5,300 pubs ​

2004
Enterprise buys outright the 4,054-strong Unique Pub Company (previously called Newco) for £609m

2004
Enterprise sells 239 pubs to Admiral Taverns for £61m to avoid referral of its Unique purchase to the Competition Commission.

2004
Enterprise is now the UK's largest leased and tenanted pub company with 8,700 venues

2005
Enterprise completes the integration of the Unique Pub Company and sells 41 more pubs to Admiral Taverns for £10.45m

2006
Enterprise refinances its syndicated debt at more attractive rates, more than doubling its facility from £490m to £1b for a five-year term

2006
Enterprise sells 769 pubs (one-quarter of which are based in London and the South East of England) to Admiral Taverns for £318.1m. The sale leaves the group with 7,700 pubs

2006
Enterprise pulls out of Scotland with the £115m sale of its 137-strong Scottish estate to Retail and Licensed Properties, a company owned by Laurel pub owner Robert Tchenguiz's investment vehicle R20

2013
Following further disposals, the Enterprise estate stands at 5,493 remaining at the end of September

2014
In February Ted Tuppen stands down as chief executive

2014
On 6th February Simon Townsend was appointed CEO