BREWER Shepherd Neame has toasted the New Year with the acquisition of seven new public houses.

One managed and six tenanted pubs have been bought from the Laurel Pub Company for an undisclosed sum. Four are in London. The other three are tenancies in Shepherd Neame's home county of Kent: The British Volunteer in New Street, Ashford, the White Lion in Folkestone, and the First & Last, Dover.

It takes the brewery's pub count to 367. Property Director George Barnes, said: "We are continuing our policy of acquiring freehold and leasehold good quality pubs as part of our drive to build the best tied estate in the south east."