A leading community pub company has outlined a near £40m capex budget for 2027 designed to underpin the long-term growth of its nationwide portfolio of sustainable community pubs

Admiral Taverns said it has a planned capex budget of £38.4 million, which is backed by the support of Proprium Capital Partners, which will help support the group’s entrepreneurial licensees.

Recent years have seen Admiral’s continuous targeted investment programme increase, and this newly announced capex budget builds on an FY26 capex investment programme of £34.1million.

In partnership with licensees and operators this growing investment has supported a range of pub improvements and refurbishments across the UK and created positive impacts for licensees, operators and communities.

Critically for many pubs, the company said, whilst these investments often support larger pub redevelopments, they have also included much needed smaller refurbishments such as new pub gardens, function rooms or kitchen updates which can have an important trading impact for community ‘locals’.

Chris Jowsey, CEO of Admiral Taverns, said: “Investing in our community pubs has always been core to our strategy to ensure long-term, sustainable pubs which serve their communities and deliver positive impacts to our licensees, operators and their communities.

“In more challenging trading conditions, and at a time when we are seeing many pubs shut their doors for good, this investment is even more critical, and I’m pleased to see the positive impacts of capex projects coming through. Our increased FY27 budget represents more exciting plans to come as we continue to support and empower our licensees.”

Admiral’s planned investment programme this year will include several significant projects, with further details to be announced in due course, subject to the relevant approvals and agreements.

In addition to capex investments, Proper Pubs, the operator managed division of Admiral’s business is focused on multiple ways it can support its pub partners as much as possible. I

t is investing an additional £600,000 in operator incentives to share rewards with pub partners when the businesses are succeeding, as well as setting new targets to help pubs facing cost headwinds as part of the wider operating environment.

Nathan Wall, managing director of Proper Pubs, commented: “Whilst Admiral’s investment stretches across both leased and tenanted and operator managed pubs, in the Proper Pubs division we’ve really focused on challenging our operators this year to hit the magic milestone of £1 million in sales, and introduced internal incentives to support this.

“I’m thrilled the Y Pentan has reached this, and it is a real testament to the hard work of the operator building on the potential the refurbishment created. Congratulations to Stephanie and all the team, and we look forward to more pubs reaching this milestone.”