Times are tough, but upbeat Young's won't cry in its beer

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The brewer, which has 170 pubs within the M25, has taken the writedown on the value of 28 of its 221 pubs, pushing pre-tax profits down by 63.7% to £4.2 million for the year to 28 March.

"We have taken a prudent view on property values in light of the environment. Some of these pubs we will probably sell, others we will improve the properties," said chief executive Stephen Goodyear.

Goodyear added that the capital is still the place to be as a pubs operator: "We are very pleased with our performance given the economic environment - it shows the resilience of Young's and the resilience of London."

Like-for-like sales at its managed pubs fell 1.3% in the last 13 weeks compared with the same period last year, which analysts reckon is a good performance given the industry's struggle.

Goodyear says it has avoiding its rivals' tactic of slashing prices to maintain margins: "I have not seen a marketplace like this in 25 years in terms of the aggression of the discounting."

Young's also says it has suffered from rising wage and food bills and higher taxes.

Excluding the writedown and other charges, pre-tax profits were up 3.1% on last year to £19.2 million, allowing Young's to increase its dividend payout by 2% to 6.63p.

Pub grub, which has been a star performer in the past and now accounts for over a quarter of sales, started to suffer in the second half of last year.

Young's is now offering food promotions to increase footfall during the week and believes these have drawn in cash-conscious consumers.

Young's is praying for a good summer as the majority of its estate has large beer gardens. One of its most popular pubs, The Ship at Wandsworth, took nearly £40,000 last Sunday as drinkers flocked there to enjoy the sun.

Goodyear said that the company is still on the look-out for acquisitions: "We are taking a cautious approach but we are always looking to buy. We recently made an offer, which was unfortunately unsuccessful."

It has bought four pubs in the last year, including three in London: The Old Ship in Hammersmith, The Roebuck in Hampstead and The George in Fulham.