Big Smoke co-founder linked to new company acquiring pub estate

Big Smoke Pub Co has been bought by Esher ABC, a company that cites Big Smoke co-founder Richard Craig as one of its shareholders.

The revelation, confirmed by a spokesperson for administators FRP Advisory, follows the news that Big Smoke Pub Co had appointed the administrators before mysteriously being “acquired out of administration” very soon afterwards.

However, the newly set up company, Esher ABC Limited, which names Richard Froude Newman as its director also names one other person “with significant control” as former Big Smoke Pub Co boss Craig.

Speaking to the drinks business about the buyout Craig had stated: “The pubs will continue to trade in exactly the same way as they have done” but had stayed silent on a price paid or a name of the new buyer.

Industry sources had speculated that co-founder James Morgan’s dad (Richard Morgan, who owns Twickenham Taverns) had been an obvious bet for someone that may have pitched in to assist in re-buying the company out of trouble, however Esher ABC director Newman already has directorship connections within investment and hospitality businesses, so the pairing seems to be well-aligned and potentially pre-planned.

Despite prompts as to which company had made the acquisition, Craig remained tight-lipped regarding his early connections to the new company that was acquiring Big Smoke. Irrespective of this, the movements behind the scenes laid out through the business documentation filed via Companies House,  illustrate his ongoing involvement.