JERSEY-BASED leisure group Ann Street has bought profitable pub-restaurant operator Blubeckers for £10.4 million.

Blubeckers, with fixed assets of £14 million, runs 11 character eating houses in Hampshire, Surrey and Middlesex, offering menus through its Blubeckers and Edwinns brands.

Ann Street said the acquisition would give it an excellent opportunity to cash in on growing demand for quality pub food.

A spokesman said Blubeckers, like others in the pub sector, was serving more ambitious cuisine than "steak and chips followed by black forest gateaux".

In recent years, tourism to the Channel Islands has struggled in the face of cheaper competition.

As a result, Ann Street's profits were badly affected, meaning it was keen to branch out from solely serving holiday-makers, a highly seasonal activity.

In May the company reported a £3.5 million drop in full-year pre-tax profits to £9.28 million, against £12.71 million the time before.

The spokesman said: "We are trying to minimise the risk of a tourism downturn.

"Blubeckers has a steady flow of customers all year round and is not particularly affected by bad weather or the tourist trade."

Ann Street chief executive Paul Smith added: "We are delighted to have acquired this established and profitable operation, which will allow us to benefit from a strategic move away from seasonally-based activities.

"We will continue to seek out new acquisitions that will deliver added value to both customers and shareholders alike.''

Converted for the new archive on 25 January 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.