HEINEKEN has outlined plans to invest £4 million in upgrading its Star Pubs & Bars estate in Scotland in 2017, doubling its 2016 investment, with the group’s pub boss claiming venues with investment are “thriving”.

The brewing giant, which operates 109 units in Scotland, invested £6.45m in the country between 2013 and 2016.

In Glasgow, Heineken has revealed it will spend £738,000 upgrading four venues, which it estimates will lead to the creation of 36 jobs.

Trader Joes on Hope Street in Glasgow is one of the sites benefitting from the investment. It is currently undergoing a refurbishment and will open in early May as a contemporary Scottish bar and restaurant called Ardnamurchan.

Recently, Bannisters in the fashionable Finnieston distract was reopened in November as Strip Joint following a £500,000 refurbishment.

Research carried out in March by Populus2 on behalf of Heineken showed a quarter of Glaswegian visit their local pub once a week and nearly half (46 per cent) once a month.

The research found 58 per cent want their local pub to offer good food, while 30 per cent want a pub garden and 26 per cent want live sport on television.

And reinforcing the changing dynamics of the pub sector, 25 per cent of respondents said they looked for free wi-fi in their local, while 14 per cent demanded good quality coffee.

Lawson Mountstevens, Star Pubs & Bars managing director says: “We regularly read about pubs closing down, but what people don’t always appreciate is that well-run, invested pubs are thriving. Invested pubs attract more customers, are used more often for different occasions throughout the day and encourage people to trade up, creating more profitable and sustainable businesses for licensees.

“Our investment is creating pubs that people want and use, enhancing local communities and benefitting local economies.”

Glasgow represents just 11 per cent of the total funding, and more publicans, such as Nick Livingstone from 7 Saints Bar & Burger Kitchen in Prestwick, which was refurbished with a £150,000 investment last year.

The pub’s revenue is now five times more than it was when Mr Livingstone took it on.