Greene King hits 100 franchise pubs and announces Wales expansion

Greene King Pub Partners, the franchise division of Greene King, has reached the milestone of 100 franchise pubs and will continue to expand with 30 new openings, including its first sites in Wales.

This comes just over four years after Greene King launched its first franchise concept, Hive Pubs, in late 2021 and almost two years after it opened its first Nest Pubs franchise in 2024. 

Greene King has revealed it will continue to grow its franchise business in 2026 by opening 30 more Hive Pubs and Nest Pubs, including in Wales and the Southwest of England for the first time. 

New franchise investments and openings already planned for the first quarter of 2026 include Millwrights in Aylesbury, The Freemasons Arms in Wigan and The Flag Inn in Egerton. 

Greene King will facilitate their expansion by growing its Pub Partners franchise team, the hiring of two new business development managers (BDMs) to cover their expanded geography and the internal promotion of a franchise BDM to operations manager.

In 2025, Greene King Pub Partners opened 30 new franchise pubs, including in Scotland under the Belhaven brand for the first time. Key openings in 2025 included The Tarbet in Edinburgh, which became the first Greene King franchise pub in Scotland, The Dolphin in Melbourn and the Two Poplars in Wokingham.

Penelope Bruce, Pub Partners franchise operations director, said: “We are over the moon to have hit the magic number of 100 franchise pubs. Just over four years on from launching our very first Hive Pub, our franchise offer continues to grow.

“After expanding into Scotland for the first time, we have plans to launch in Wales in 2026 as we open 30 more franchise pubs.”