Out of town, Sir John Fitzgerald has six large food-based pubs, including the Twin Farms at Kenton Bankfoot and The Green in Wardley.

The company’s results show that sales increased in the 12 months to the end of January 2009 by 3% from £18.4m to £18.9m.

The directors’ report for the period said: “The future outlook remains uncertain, but so far this year like-for-like takings in our pub estate are marginally up on last year.”

John Harrington, news editor of specialist licensed trade magazine the Morning Advertiser, said: “Pubs are now closing at the rate of 50 every week and drink sales are falling overall, but not everyone is doing badly.

“Real ale is one area that is strongly outperfoming the beer category as a whole and the pub groups that are focused on providing a good real ale offering are doing better than some of the others.

“And, of course, with so many pubs closing, the ones that are still here are benefiting from less competition. Overall conditions for the licensed trade are tough, but people are still going to pubs.”