DORSET brewery Hall & Woodhouse says it on track to have completed the purchase of 10 pubs this year.

The Blandford-based company said the deals were part of an ongoing expansion and there were more in the pipeline.

The venues are in its managed division and its tenanted, or business partnership, arm.

Hall & Woodhouse sold a “small collection of pubs” earlier in the year in order to invest in assets which it said were better-aligned to its long-term strategy.

Mark James, property director at Hall & Woodhouse, said: “At Hall & Woodhouse, we continually look to evolve as a business by proactively managing our estate and investing in pubs of the future.

“We are seeing some good opportunities at the moment, and our recent acquisitions add real quality, with many located in popular tourist locations across the south of England. These acquisitions will also significantly increase our bedroom stock.

“Hall & Woodhouse is ending the year in a strong position. We will continue to seek out further opportunities to grow through high-quality acquisitions that complement and enhance our existing estate.”

Recent acquisitions include the Masons Arms, Odcombe; Hit or Miss, Amersham; Old Ship Aground, Minehead; and The Dolphin Hotel, Bovey Tracey.

The pipeline includes further sites in Dorset, Devon and Surrey.

The brewery did not release a list of all 10 new sites as some sales had not been completed.

It has around 170 pubs stretching from Bristol to Brighton.

Last month, Hall & Woodhouse accounts revealed a £10.5million pre-tax loss for the year ending January 31, 2021, but said it was “well-placed to recover quickly”.

In his annual report, chairman Anthony Woodhouse said: “H&W can add the last 14 months and the coronavirus pandemic to the list of major upheavals that it has had to weather over its 244 year history.

“Your company is not only surviving but indeed is well placed to recover quickly and get back to growth as the hospitality industry is allowed to reopen.”

He said then that the company had an “excellent pipeline of pub acquisitions which will help fuel our recovery” but would “err on the side of prudence” until the pandemic was behind it.