Two Merseyside pubs to undergo transformation as part of £39m Heineken investment

Two Merseyside pubs are to be transformed as part of Heineken plan to investment £39m into UK venues in its Star Pubs estate. The brewery will reopen 62 sites that were closed in recent years and provide upgrades for more than 600 pubs.

The move is expected to create more than 1,000 new jobs and over £2.24m will be used for pub investments in the North West, with a further £1.04m invested by licensees. Star Pubs & Bars currently operates 2,400 pubs across the UK, and a quarter of these (612) will benefit from investment.

Two pubs in Merseyside will benefit from the plans: Cross Keys in Liverpool city centre and Southport's Cheshire Lines. Heineken says the revamps are ‘designed to broaden each pub’s use and appeal’, encouraging more customers to visit.

The upgrades will impact ‘every part’ of the pubs, from the toilets and the gardens, to improving lighting and sound systems. Other common changes will include overhauling cellars with state-of-the-art dispense equipment to ensure ‘consistently perfect’ pints and repositioning tills to speed up service.

Lawson Mountstevens, Star Pubs’ Managing Director, said: “People are looking for maximum value from visits to their local. They want great surroundings and food and drink as well as activities that give them an extra reason to go out, such as sports screenings and entertainment. Creating fantastic locals that can accommodate a range of occasions meets this need and helps pubs fulfil their role as vital third spaces where communities can come together.

“Pubs have proved their enduring appeal; after all the disruption of recent years, Star is on track to have the lowest number of long-term closed pubs since 2019. It’s a tribute to the drive and entrepreneurship of licensees and the importance of continued investment.

“We’ve spent more than £200m maintaining and upgrading our pubs over the last five years, and we’ll continue to invest to keep them open and thriving. Time and again we see the value consumers place on having a good local and how important it is to communities.

“Well-invested pubs run by great licensees are here to stay, but like all locals, need Government support to reduce the enormous tax burden they shoulder.”