THE freeholds of three wellknown local hotels have been acquired by the family trust of entrepreneur Jim Walsh (pictured) as part of a £4m deal.

The George, at Piercebridge, near Darlington, the Bridge Hotel, at Catterick Bridge, and the White Rose Hotel, at Leeming Bar, range in size from 37 to 18 bedrooms.

But, the three leaseholders who run them will not notice any immediate changes, because Mr Walsh has bought the properties from his own company - Tadcaster Pub Holdings.

The restructuring coincides with a larger deal in which the company has sold 30 pubs and hotels in Yorkshire and the North-East to Scottish & Newcastle Pub Enterprises for £15m.

Tadcaster Pub Holdings has retained ownership of another 32 outlets in the region.

The sale comes just three months after the Tadcasterbased businessman sold Nucleus Data, his licensed trade datamanagement business, for £3.8m to Brulines of Stocktonon- Tees, its major competitor.

But Mr Walsh, who six years ago sold 75 pubs to the Punch Pub Company for £19m, has no intention of quitting the licensed trade, where he started in business in 1991 with an investment of just £500.

James Crawfurd-Porter, managing director of Tadcaster Pub Holdings, said: "This was an opportune time for the business to realise the value of some of its assets, but Jim and I have certainly not lost our appetite to carry on building the business with more acquisitions of pubs and hotels in the region."

Mr Walsh added: "We are well aware of the many short and medium-term difficulties facing the licensed trade at the moment - not least the smoking ban, red tape, and the latest hike in duty on beer - but we remain confident in the long-term value of investment in community pubs and small, character hotels.

"We will continue to make judicious acquisitions of single outlets or small groups of outlets where we believe our special management approach can help the right leaseholder to grow the business."