The Stonegate Pub Company, which has 43 drink-led premises across Scotland, has reported strong like-for-like growth over the festive period.

The operator of 735 UK pubs and bars, including the Hanover Tap in the Scottish capital and Slug and Lettuce in Edinburgh and Glasgow, where the Ark is also among its premises, said all its formats performed well during festive trading with total like-for-like sales growth up 7.8 per cent.

On the season’s key trading days, including Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve, Stonegate’s sales were up on average 8.3% and in the two weeks from December 17 the increase was 12%.

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Stonegate operates a multiple format strategy, with a portfolio which encompasses a predominantly drinks-focused trading formats spanning high-street and suburban pubs, as well as late-night bars and venues.

The Herald:

Simon Longbottom, Stonegate chief executive, above, said: "Our success shows that there is value in a drinks-led, high street focused strategy."

He added: "Encouragingly, all of our trading formats and regions performed well and it was particularly pleasing to see the sites and brands we acquired in 2018 contributing to this.

"Our investment in our pre-booking facilities resulted in a double-digit increase in like-for-like bookings enabling us to maximise the trading opportunity from key festive events, such as New Year’s Eve and Boxing Day football.

"We have entered 2019 with positive momentum."