Prime Minister’s local pub sold to Chinese investor

The Plough at Cadsden hit the headlines last year when the former prime minister and president XI Jinping dropped in for fish and chips and ale.

It is also famously the address where Cameron accidentally left his then eight-year-old daughter Nancy behind after going for a drink in 2012.​

Since the president's visit The Plough, which is the nearest pub to the prime minister’s country residence Chequers, has become a tourist attraction for Chinese travellers keen to sample traditional British food.

Now Chinese firm SinoFortune Investment has purchased the famous address, with the aim of taking the pub brand overseas.

Dr. Peter Zhang, managing director of SinoFortune, said: “The English pub concept is growing very fast in China, and it's the best way culturally to link people from different countries and build friendships.

“We see bigger opportunities, namely countries lying between China and Europe, where we believe we could export the UK brand internationally.”

Growing interest ​

The deal is the latest example of growing Asian interest in the UK hospitality market, following the £80m sale of the DoubleTree by Hilton London Docklands Riverside to China’s Junson Capital earlier this year.

Neil Morgan, managing director of pubs and restaurants at Christie & Co – who brokered the sale – predicts that Chinese interest in the UK market will continue to rise.

“Asian investors are becoming more interested in UK markets, particularly hotels, licensed and leisure," he said.

"We are seeing more and more Chinese investors coming to us showing an interest both in British hospitality and leisure opportunities, and also in taking classic British themes to China."

The Plough, which describes itself as ‘the pub of choice of prime ministers for many decades’, welcomes visitors from all over the world.

It also found fame when it appeared in an episode of the long-running series Midsomer Murders in 2006.