Greene King is seeing record interest in its leased, tenanted and franchise pubs, chief executive Nick Mackenzie told Propel on 23 September 2026. He linked further growth to what he called “bold reform of VAT, business rates and duty”, as the group reshapes an estate of around 2,500 pubs.
The comments come six months after Greene King set out a new estate strategy. In March 2026, the group said it would move 150 managed pubs into its Pub Partners division, as leased and tenanted or franchise sites, and review a further 150 for possible sale over the medium term.
Proceeds from disposals are to be reinvested in the core managed estate, and fewer than 2% of sites were identified for closure, in line with normal annual activity.
Record demand across three types of agreement
Mackenzie did not publish an application figure. The demand he described covers the three routes Greene King offers to people who want to run one of its pubs: a tenancy, a lease, and a franchise under the Hive Pubs brand. The three are legally distinct, and what separates them is explained in how to open a pub in the UK.
Greene King is one of the six pub companies covered by the Pubs Code, which regulates tied tenancies and leases in England and Wales. Hive Pubs is the group’s franchise format, and the only genuine pub franchise among those six companies.
Hive Pubs passed 100 franchise pubs in February
The first Hive pub opened in late 2021. In February 2026, Greene King announced it had reached 100 franchise pubs and planned 30 more openings during the year, including a first move into Wales and growth in the south west of England.
At the time, the group said franchisees could start with an ingoing cost of as little as £3,000, covering agreement fees, induction and training, far below the £85,000 mean total investment recorded in what it costs to open a franchise in the UK.
Dan Robinson, managing director of Greene King Pub Partners, said: “We are delighted with the ongoing growth of our franchise business, which continues to complement our very successful leased and tenanted pub business.”
Good to know
Greene King’s franchise offer is limited to Hive Pubs. Its tenancies and leases are pub agreements, not franchises, and the Pubs Code that governs them applies in England and Wales only, while a franchise carries no statutory code at all and rests entirely on the franchise agreement. The £3,000 ingoing cost is the figure the group published in February 2026.
Growth tied to tax reform
Mackenzie’s call follows a wider sector campaign. In July 2026, the Government announced a 20% business rates cut for pubs, clubs and live music venues in England from April 2027, which Mackenzie welcomed at the time as “much needed relief”.
Operators have kept pressing for a lower rate of VAT on hospitality, a UK-wide tax, unlike business rates and the Pubs Code, which are among the devolved differences covered in UK franchise law: how England, Scotland and Northern Ireland differ. Greene King is also among the signatories of an open letter from more than 100 Scottish hospitality businesses asking the Scottish Government to back a 10% rate.
The conversions to watch
The 150 pub transfers announced in March are the most direct source of new leased, tenanted and franchise sites at Greene King. The group has not published how many have been completed, nor how many Hive openings have taken place against its 2026 target of 30.
Those two numbers, alongside any change in VAT or duty at the next Budget, are the data points that will show whether record interest turns into signed agreements. Other brands recruiting operators on published terms can be compared across the UK franchise directory.
