Are you an experienced sports and community-led Publican with vision? If so, the Golden Lion needs you!

We’re reinvesting to reinvigorate the pub and drive the sports offer, but we need the quintessential host and creative marketeer to deliver irresistible events. Could this be you?

Pub and location

The Golden Lion sits in Sedgefield’s charming town near to the racecourse and the historic and picturesque Hardwick Hall.

It’s currently wet-led and sports-driven. However, there is a catering kitchen, so you could enhance trade by adding a small food offer.

You’ll be taking on a locals’ pub with sports at its core. You’ll maximise this unique selling point, as the other pubs in the town are much more food-led.

Guests love the large central bar and lounge and the spacious sports area at the back with a pool table and darts. The pub also offers a small beer garden and ample parking spaces.

Sedgefield is a small town in County Durham. It has a population of around 6,000 people. The town centre has several pubs and shops centred around a village green, but yours will be one of the few sports-centric watering holes.

You’ll discover diverse sporting venues in Sedgefield, the most famous of which is Sedgefield Racecourse, a regional thoroughbred horse-racing venue hosting several monthly meets.

Ideal Publican

You’ll need an active interest in sports and to love the area, as this is a very locals-driven pub. The Golden Lion needs someone with a vision who always wants to enhance the business.

You’ll create a small food offer and host events your guests love, ensuring you forge strong community links.

The licensing team is quite thorough, so it really helps to have experience building positive relationships with both licensing authorities and community groups

The pub needs an experienced operator who loves looking for new ways to drive their business forward.

Private accommodation

This fantastic business opportunity provides two bedrooms, a kitchen, and a lounge.

About the Agreement

At Punch, we support talented, ambitious entrepreneurs who want to run brilliant pubs at the heart of their communities. That’s why our agreements are designed to be flexible, supportive and built around your vision.

Our Flexible Tenancy gives you the freedom to run your own pub with confidence. A tied agreement of up to five years, where you’ll benefit from the drink products available to Punch which also offers flexible notice periods. We offer flexible deposits, tie‑release options, and pricing structures to help you shape your business in a way that works for you.

Why Choose Punch?

When you partner with Punch, you’ll have an entire support system behind you, including:

• A forward thinking pub company, recognised nationally with multiple industry awards including winners of the Publican Awards 2022 & 2024!
• Potential investment to unlock your pub’s full potential
• Industry leading training through our award winning Academy, complete with state of the art kitchens, bars and our immersive Progress with Punch training programme.
• Access to our powerful online platform, the Punch Buying Club, where you can order stock and find resources to help you run your pub successfully.
• Ongoing coaching from expert Operations Managers and specialist support teams.
• Innovative digital learning through THIRST, our gamified online training app, offering compliance training through to driving sales training.
• A commitment to “Doing Well, By Doing Good” by championing communities, wellbeing and sustainability at every step.

Curious about how this agreement could work for you? You will find our Partnering with Punch guide in the ‘Relevant Downloads’ section below.

Chat to a recruitment advisor now about this pub business opportunity.