Father and son team make it a hat-trick of NewRiver pubs

Publicans Paul and Frank Sprackman have added two further NewRiver pubs to their growing portfolio – The Luckwell and The New Found Out, both in Bristol.

The father and son duo, who now have six pubs in total, including NewRiver’s Eagle, in Redditch, Worcestershire, have run The Luckwell since May 2016, and took on The New Found Out in earlier this year.

With a £28,000 investment from NewRiver, the retail and leisure property company that has 350 pubs in England and Wales, The Luckwell has undergone a full exterior refurbishment including new signage, putting the pub back on the map, part of NewRiver's ongoing investment plan for its pub estate.

Since the pair took on the pub, where day-to-day operations are run by bar manager Alan, it has seen a 10% increase in trade.

In addition to the external works, Paul and Frank have given the interior a new lease of life with fresh paint throughout, making it a more welcoming place for visitors.

Located on Luckwell Road, close to Bristol City Football Club, the completely wet-led operation trades very successfully on match days, welcoming fans to enjoy a drink pre and post-match, while supporters are also able to watch games on TV screens showing BT Sport.

In addition to attracting local supporters through the doors, the pub regularly holds entertainment evenings including discos and karaoke nights, hosted by Alan.

Frank said: “The Luckwell is our fifth pub and it’s exciting to see our portfolio expand. We already run The Eagle, in Worcestershire, another NewRiver pub, so we knew how they worked and wanted to develop our relationship with them.

“We were keen to take on more pubs, so were thrilled when operations manager Clive Greene suggested we put ourselves forward for The Luckwell, which has done really well since we received the keys last May.

“And following the successes of The Eagle and The Luckwell, we’ve taken on our third NewRiver site, The New Found Out, also in Bristol.”

NewRiver’s Asset development director – pub division, David Shipton said: “We’re really excited to see Paul and Frank take on multiple NewRiver sites, expanding their portfolio of successfully run pubs.

“While The Luckwell has always been a popular venue with Bristol City football fans, it’s great to see that trading is up since Paul and Frank took on the pub last year.

“The £28,000 investment for the exterior works, demonstrates the commitment of our team of experts to helping not only first time publicans, but also more experienced entrepreneurs run a successful business – in this case more than one.”